'American Idol' artists album rocks charts worldwide

American Idol stars Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice and Kelly Clarkson ruled the charts last week with three of the top ten spots on Billboard's Top 200 album chart the week before Christmas, historically one of the best selling weeks of the year for the music industry.

In addition, American Idol and Pop Idol artists, Clarkson and Will Young, also took two of the top 15 spots in the weekly sales chart in the UK.
Some Hearts, the debut album by American Idol 4 winner Carrie Underwood, rose from Number 5 to Number 2 on the chart with more than 271,000 units sold for the week. Some Hearts was certified platinum, with over one million albums sold, within just five weeks of its 15 November, 2005 release.
American Idol 4 finalist Bo Bice's debut album, The Real Thing entered the chart this week at Number 4, with more than 226,000 albums sold. In addition, Bice's hit single Inside Your Heaven/Vehicle was number three on the Billboard Singles Chart. American Idol 1 winner Kelly Clarkson's most recent album Breakaway moved back into the Top 10 to Number 8, with more than 180,000 units sold for the week.
Breakaway has remained in the Top 20 since its release on 30 November, 2004, for a total of for 55 consecutive weeks and has been certified 4X platinum in the United States, with over four million units sold in the US and well over seven million copies sold worldwide.
American Idol 3 winner Fantasia is approaching the double platinum mark with her debut album Free Yourself and American Idol 2 runner-up Clay Aiken's Christmas album Merry Christmas With Love recently soared past the million unit mark. Aiken is expected to release a new album next year.

American Idol Bice Wants to Be Like Clay Aiken

American Idol has made Bo Bice a hot property this year, both for his music talent and for his long-haired sex appeal. Now he hopes to cash in.

Bice, 30, finished the TV show's fourth season as the runner-up, but the Alabama native hopes to follow Clay Aiken as the also-ran who actually runs away with it. He's releasing his debut disc The Real Thing.
"I'm obviously very excited about the album, to see what people think of it," he told The Birmingham News. "I had quite a bit of creative control, and I was extremely pleased with that. I had a lot of input."

American Idol Winner Underwood Gets Oklahoman of the Year

Oklahoma Today magazine picked the country singer who won Fox's talent competition this year, saying the Checotah native encompasses all that makes the state great and has the character and humility to be so honored.
Underwood's debut album climbed to No. 1 on Billboard's country album chart following its release last month, making Underwood the highest-debuting country artist since Billboard began using Soundscan to rank album sales.
Previous Oklahomans of the Year include singer Garth Brooks in 1993 and last year's recipient, Fern Holland, a human rights activist honored posthumously for her work in Iraq.

Top Talent on American Idol

For the fourth year in a row, the talent level among "American Idol" hopefuls is miles above that of the previous season.

So says "Idol" judge Randy Jackson, echoing comments made by colleague Paula Abdul. Jackson will reopen his Dawg Pound when the show returns to Fox on Jan. 17.
"We say it every single season, but this year I think it's really, 100,000 percent true -- the talent is far better than any other season," says Jackson, a music producer. "There are some great boys, some great girls," he says. "I think it's gonna come down to the wire at the end."
The balance also is reflected in the types of singers he and fellow judges Simon Cowell and Abdul saw at the auditions. Jackson thinks the success of last season's two finalists, country girl Carrie Underwood and rock guy Bo Bice, broadened the pool of auditioners.