‘Idol’ fever propels Daughtry to No. 1
AN Idol sneaks past the Dreamgirls by just a few of those hairs on his chinny-chin-chin, as “Daughtry,” the debut album from “American Idol” contestant Chris Daughtry, snags the No. 1 spot on the national sales chart this week.
The North Carolina rocker’s collection sold 65,000 copies, enough to save the record industry from yet another new sales low during a particularly slow January. That was just 134 more copies than the “Dreamgirls” soundtrack, the slimmest margin ever between the No. 1 and No. 2 bestselling albums, according to Billboard.
Daughtry’s album has sold almost 1.3 million copies since its release in November, making him the latest “AI” commercial success story.
TV exposure also paid off big for another musician this week, as British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae’s appearance last week on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” helped boost her album sales more than 150% over the previous week. That pushed it up from No. 32 to No. 4 this week with sales of 55,000 copies.
Rae’s critically lauded album also is nominated for three Grammy Awards.
The highest chart debut of the week belongs to “Dreamgirls” archetype Diana Ross. The former Supremes leader’s “I Love You” sold 21,000 copies, according to the Nielsen SoundScan sales monitoring service. It entered the chart at No. 32, her highest position since her “Swept Away” album reached No. 26 in 1984.
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