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Top Idol on the top 200 album chart: Carrie. No. 6 last week, she shot to No. 4, selling 292,000 copies (up about 47% over the previous week. For purposes of comparison, overall album sales, in the week leading up to Christmas, were up 34%.). Her total is 4.59 million.
No. 2 Idol: Daughtry. His sales were up nearly 40%, 250,000 compared to 181,000, and he crossed the magic 1 million line in actual sales (1.04, to be exact, in a rounded-off kind of way). He also went down on the chart, from No. 7 to No. 8, but that won’t dampen the celebration. It’s Not Over looks like a multi-format radio hit, too.
No. 3 Idol: Taylor. He fell from 2 to 15 on the chart, and his sales dropped from 298,000 to 202,000. That approximately 32% drop would normally be in the acceptable range, but not in a week when overall sales were up 34%. If sales normalize in the next couple of weeks, he could be facing a massive plunge. On the other hand, he did top 500,000 in two weeks.
No. 4 Idol: Kellie. Held her own pretty well, taking only a slight chart drop (56 to 61) and selling 63,000, up from 45,000 the previous week. Total is 336,000.
No. 5 Idol: Fantasia. Serious fan base evaporation. The album fell from No. 19 to No. 63, selling 62,000, down about 53% from the first week. Total is 195,000, which is, in some form of consolation, better than Ruben’s total already.
No. 6 Idol: Clay. Dropped from 124 to 143 on the chart, but sold around 20% better, 23,000 compared to 19,000, and his total is 483,000, so close to half a million he can taste it. His Merry Christmas With Love album nearly equaled A Thousand Different Ways this week, selling 21,000 (22,000 the previous week; total 1.3 million).
And, sadly, there is no No. 7 Idol. Ruben dropped off the chart in the most painful way imaginable. He sold more than 50% more albums last week, a tad less than 14,800 compared to 9,700, but the No. 200 album on the chart sold 14,803! Ruben’s total stands at 181,000.
Idol Chatter
Is it wrong for me to take pleasure on the failure of Taylor, Fantasia and Ruben’s albums? I have a friend that I have argued with for years and told her that they do not have mass appeal…and I was right and she is wrong! My guys might go out early, but they last longer on the charts, ie Clay and Daugtry!!! You go boys!! Sorry Taylor your 15 minutes up, and after a few appearances on AI6 you will slowly disappear from the limelight. I also have a feeling that J-Records is going to quietly drop both Ruben and Fantasia shortly after the new year.
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Call it Rent-an-Idol. For the right price, "American Idol" castoffs, finalists and even champs will pay a visit to your wedding, Sweet 16 or bar mitzvah. "The average going rate for an ‘American Idol’ finalist can be as little as $15,000 or as much as $150,000," says a source familiar with the business of brokering singers, bands and other talent for corporate functions and exclusive private parties. "But it really depends on what you want them to do. Are they just going to show up at the party or are they going to sing? Do they have a song on the charts right now, or are they yesterday’s news?" A wealthy entertainment mogul once shelled out big bucks – more than $30,000 – to hire second-season "Idol" champ Ruben Studdard to sing just three songs at a party for his wife. "And I’m in the industry," he says. For gigs booked by less well-connected individuals, Studdard reportedly rakes in around $75,000 or more. Taylor Hicks, the latest champ, fetches as much as $150,000 for a private performance. He’ll be able to demand more if he ever becomes as popular as the original "Idol" winner, Kelly Clarkson, who sources say is paid as much as $300,000 to put on a private mini-concert. Carrie Underwood, who won the Fox TV talent show last year, commands upward of $250,000 to show up at a party and sing. On the lower end of the "Idol" scale are acts like second-season finalist Kimberly Caldwell, who garners around $2,000 a gig.. She pockets $3,000 if you ask her to sing. But she’s made bigger money in the past; at one gig, Caldwell got as much as $7,500 to sit for hours signing autographs, an industry source says. The people who now manage "Idol" finalists and winners are extremely tight-lipped, even slightly belligerent, about how much their clients are paid, because, one manager says, "the price can change overnight and is frequently different depending on who they’re singing for, where and when."
NY Post
Who would you pay for? I would pay for Clay Aiken, Jon Peter Lewis and Chris Daughtry! Granted I am only offering $100, you think they will still do it?
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The Off-Broadway revival of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at the Zipper Theatre welcomes two new actors Jan. 9: former "American Idol" contestant — and recent Wedding Singer star — Constantine Maroulis and Les Misérables’ Jayne Paterson. Maroulis and Paterson join Gay Marshall and Robert Cuccioli, who opened the production. A Brooklyn native, Constantine Maroulis is a graduate of both the Boston Conservatory and the Berklee College of Music. He trained as an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and appeared as Roger in a tour of Rent. In addition to his performances on "American Idol," he has also been seen on "Law & Order: SVU" and in several independent films. Maroulis also played a recent engagement at the Public Theater’s Joe’s Pub as well as a stint in The Wedding Singer. The Zipper Theater is located in Manhattan at 336 West 37th Street. For more information visit 
