November 29, 2007

American Idol Champ Jordin Sparks Fails To Ignite The Charts

By Chris Harris (MTV.com)

It took him seven weeks and a little backing from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, but Josh Groban's holiday-themed Noël has claimed the Billboard top 200's peak position - during what was generally a strong week for record sales.

According to the latest SoundScan tally, sales of Noël spiked by 81 percent to 405,000, following the Grammy-nominated baritone's appearance last week on The Oprah Winfrey Show. While Oprah may have given Groban the push he needed to reach the top, the album's ascent to #1 has been gradual but steady. The disc debuted at No. 10 the week after its release, scanning 64,000 copies. Ever since, Noël has been inching its way forward, not once falling out of the chart's top 10; last week, the disc assumed control of the No. 2 slot with 233,300 copies sold - the highest single-week sales the LP had achieved before this week's total. The album is also the first Christmas album to top the albums chart since Kenny G's 1994 effort Miracles: The Holiday Album.

But Groban's latest triumph isn't this week's only Billboard-related bit of news. In fact, perhaps more interesting are the sales generated by Jordin Sparks' self-titled debut. Sparks - the winner of the sixth and most recent season of American Idol, and who many thought was the most marketable of the show's winners - probably won't be thrilled when she learns her album has turned out the lowest first-week numbers of a debut issued by any of the show's previous winners. Jordin Sparks enters next week's chart at No. 10 (the sole new release to crack the top 10) with little more than 119,100 sold.

Comparatively, season-one victor Kelly Clarkson's 2003 debut, Thankful, opened at No. 1 with 297,400 scans, while season two Idol Ruben Studdard's 2003 LP, Soulful, also entered at No. 1, selling 416,600 units. America's third "Idol," Fantasia Barrino, sold more than 239,000 copies of her 2004 debut, Free Yourself, to bow at No. 8, while season-four champ Underwood's 2005 opus, Some Hearts, opened at No. 2 with sales of 315,000. The last man standing at the conclusion of the show's fifth season, the salt-and-pepper-pelted Taylor Hicks, sold more than 298,000 copies of his 2006 eponymous debut to enter the chart at No. 2.