Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The singer who couldn’t turn a single judge’s chair the first time he auditioned for The Voice scored the biggest hit on iTunes last week.

The guy who made a pre-Voice living tutoring students on how to do well on college entrance exams racked up iTunes bonus points for the third time, best among the three finalists.

And the gal who entered the night with 2.3 million Facebook fans — more than twice as many as the other four contestants combined — needed an instant save to make the finals.

The Voice Top 3 — Josh Kaufman, Christina Grimmie and Jake Worthington (NBC Photo)

It all adds up to the least predictable finals The Voice has staged since Season 2.

Season-long front-runner Christina Grimmie, country charmer Jake Worthington and smooth-singing Josh Kaufman square off at 8 p.m. Monday on NBC.

Tuesday’s results show starts an hour later than normal — 9 p.m. — perfect for fans who would like to watch the performance finale on American Idol before seeing who wins the Season 6 Voice title.

Who will win?

Here are the latest rankings, with last week’s in parenthesis:

1. Josh Kaufman (2): If momentum means anything, Josh might be tough to beat. He’s outperformed Christina on iTunes three of the past four weeks. On Top 5 night, Usher served up two very nice song choices — “All of Me” and “Love Runs Out” — and Josh belted them out of the park. Hint to Usher: No more Kenny Loggins classics, please. Josh might also benefit if the show decides it’s time to end the Blake-Adam stranglehold on The Voice crown.

2. Christina Grimmie (1): Here’s the big question: Did last week’s stunning results awaken the sleeping beast that is Christina’s massive YouTube fan base. It wouldn’t be the first time in signing show history a near-elimination resulted in a surge of support for a contestant the following week. It will help if Adam limits the distractions — like vocoders and balloon showers — and keeps the focus on Christina’s brilliant voice and range.

3. Jake Worthington (3): Blake’s a pro at serving up song choices that will delight the country music fans watching The Voice, and both he and Jake will need to be at the top of their game on Monday. Playing up Jake’s charm would be wise, too. The lad from Texas enters the night with an iTunes disadvantage. He’s scored bonus points less often than Josh and Christina. And his iTunes covers haven’t done nearly as well in terms of sales outside the voting window. Those count tonight, folks.

Check back Monday night. I’ll be live blogging throughout the show and posting grades for each performance.

See also:
How the final three compare on iTunes
Five mistakes The Voice made in Season 6
Looking back at Josh Kaufman’s Voice performances
Looking back at Christina Grimmie’s Voice performances
Looking back at Jake Worthington’s Voice performances