OK, so Phillip Phillips didn’t match Scotty McCreery’s first-week chart success as an Idol winner.
If you haven’t heard, Phillips’ debut album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 earlier today.
Scotty hit number one with his debut last year.
But let’s look at the competition they faced.
Scotty released his album in October, when the other new releases landing in the Top 10 were from Feist, Rodney Atkins and Jack’s Mannequin.
Phillip’s “The World from the Side of the Moon” was released at the peak of the holiday shopping season, in the same week as Rihanna’s “Unapologetic,” Kid Rock’s “Rebel Soul” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Greatest Hits Vol. 1.”
Rihanna wound up number one this week; Phillip wound up in front of the other two.
Between Rihanna and Phillip are Taylor Swift’s “Red” at number two and One Direction’s “Take Me Home.”
USA Today reports that Phillip’s album sold 169,000 copies in week one. Scotty’s “Clear As Day” sold 197,000 copies in its first week of release.
The other bright spot for Phillip on this week’s chart is that “Home” jumped from number 12 to number eight on the Hot 100.
That’s a new peak for the smash hit, which has sold more than 2 million copies.
For those wondering, Kelly’s greatest hits album landed at number 11 on the Billboard 200, just one spot ahead of Carrie Underwood’s “Blown Away.”
That doesn’t sound all that impressive, until you consider that the album is made up mostly of songs any Kelly Clarkson fan would already own.
And since her greatest hits CD is the first ever by an Idol alum, I have nothing to compare it to.
That’s not the case with Phillip. Here’s the lengthy list of where Idols and runners-up from the past 10 years landed.
Season One: Kelly Clarkson, #1; Justin Guarini, #20
Season Two: Ruben Studdard, #1; Clay Aiken, #1
Season Three: Fantasia, #8; Diana DeGarmo, #52
Season Four: Carrie Underwood, #2; Bo Bice, #4
Season Five: Taylor Hicks, #2; Katharine McPhee, #2
Season Six: Jordin Sparks, #10; Blake Lewis, #10
Season Seven: David Cook, #3; David Archuleta, #2
Season Eight: Kris Allen, #11; Adam Lambert, #3.
Season Nine: Lee DeWyze, #19; Crystal Bowersox, #28.
Season 10: Scotty McCreery, #1; Lauren Alaina, #5
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