As expected, Kelly Clarkson’s My Life Would Suck Without You continues its meteoric rise, easily outdistancing David Cook’s Light On to take over the top spot on this week’s Idol airplay chart. Get used to have Kelly at Number One: With Cook’s single having pretty much peaked, nothing else is even close to My Life Would Suck Without You, in terms of the number of spins.

Most of the rest of the Top 10 stays the same from last week, though Carrie Underwood’s I Told You So edges past Jennifer Hudson’s Spotlight to claim the 10th spot.

Nine new tracks appear on the chart this week. The first one comes with a caveat: Love Him Like I Do, from Ruben Studdard, Deitrick Haddon and Mary Mary should have been on last week’s chart. Because it’s listed differently than Ruben’s solo records, we missed it in last week’s tracking. (We’re still getting the kinks worked out. Thanks for your patience.)

Taylor Hicks’ What’s Right Is Right enters the chart at 64, thanks in large part to play on KUMU-FM in Honolulu, Hawaii; WRSA-FM in Huntsville, Ala.; and WHLG-FM in Ft. Pierce, Fla.

Four stations, including KWAV-FM in Monterey-Salinas, Calif., spun Melinda Doolittle’s It’s Your Love, putting her at 81 in her first week.

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Last week, it was exciting to report the debut of Kelly Clarkson’s new single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” on the Billboard charts. But this week, the news is even better. The single soared from #97 last week to #1 on this week’s Hot 100, giving it the distinction of having the biggest one-week jump in the history of the chart. The single sold 280,000 downloads in its first week of availability, earning it the top spot on both Hot Digital Songs and Hot Digital Tracks (and you can join the crowd by clicking on the link above).

“My Life Would Suck Without You” also charts on Hot 100 Airplay (38), Pop 100 (4), Pop 100 Airplay (16), Mainstream Top 40 (18), and Adult Top 40 Tracks (18). Kelly’s album, All I Ever Wanted, is due out March 10.

Season 6’s Chris Sligh has reason to celebrate this week. “Here Comes Goodbye,” a song he co-wrote, was recorded by Rascal Flatts and debuts at #29 on Hot Country Songs. It’s a solid tune about love lost and heartache – the stuff that great country songs are made of! Rascal Flatts has a history of number ones and this one appears headed in the same direction. Congrats to Chris!

Carrie Underwood’s new single “I Told You So,” is #26 on Hot Country Songs. Another single, “The More Boys I Meet,” is #52.

Here’s a summary of all of the Idol-related singles:

“My Life Would Suck Without You” (Kelly Clarkson): Hot 100 (1), Hot 100 Airplay (38), Pop 100 (4), Pop 100 Airplay (16), Mainstream Top 40 (18), Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks (18), Hot Digital Tracks (1), Hot Digital Songs (1)
“Light On” (David Cook): Hot 100 (29), Hot 100 Airplay (48), Pop 100 (26), Pop 100 Airplay (27), Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (26), Mainstream Top 40 (22), Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks (6), Hot Digital Tracks (24), Hot Digital Songs (25)
“The Time Of My Life” (David Cook): Hot Adult Contemporary (2)
“Crush” (David Archuleta): Hot 100 (retired), Hot 100 Airplay (retired), Pop 100 (50), Pop 100 Airplay (53), Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (7), Hot Digital Tracks (40), Hot Digital Songs (46)
“A Little Too Not Over You” (David Archuleta): Pop 100 (88), Pop 100 Airplay (63)
“Spotlight” (Jennifer Hudson): Pop 100 (95), Pop 100 Airplay (75), Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (21), Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (21), Hot Adult R&B Airplay (5)
“If This Isn’t Love” (Jennifer Hudson): Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (52), Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (52), Hot Adult R&B Airplay (21)
“One Step At A Time” (Jordin Sparks): Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (20)
“What About Now” (Daughtry): Hot Adult Contemporary (10), Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks (9)
“Feels Like Tonight” (Daughtry): Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks (9)
“I Told You So” (Carrie Underwood): Hot Country Songs (26)
“The More Boys I Meet” (Carrie Underwood): Hot Country Songs (51)
“Best Days Of Your Life” (Kellie Pickler): Hot Country Songs (36)
“Telluride” (Josh Gracin): Hot Country Songs (40)
“Here Comes Goodbye” (Rascal Flatts, written by Chris Sligh): Hot Country Songs (29)
“Lose My Soul” (TobyMac featuring Mandisa): Hot Christian Adult Contemporary (4), Hot Christian Songs (4)

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Since we’ve been discussing the relative merits or spins, formats and audiences in the comments of this week’s chart post, I thought I’d compare the week’s two hottest Idol tracks. Some detailed analysis about David Cook’s Light On and Kelly Clarkson’s My Life Would Suck Without You provides interesting insights into the world of hit singles.

According to Mediabase, between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26, Light On got played 6,157 times, while My Life Would Suck Without You received 5,277 spins. Both records increased their spins from the previous seven-day period: Light On up 181, My Life up exponentially more at 2,325 — the kind of numbers that indicate a big hit from a major hit.

More to follow …

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Thanks to the good folks at Mediabase, the American Idol airplay chart is back and better than ever this week. You may remember I took a shot at doing this list by hand two weeks ago. Now, we’ve automated it somewhat, allowing us to do more and better things. For example, we’ve expanded our rankings from 50 to 100. We’re measuring across all formats and including older songs as well as current ones, so you can see how often your favorite Idol song gets played on the radio. Once we get this running smoothly, I’m hoping to be able to tell you how much the songs move up and down the charts from week to week — at least on the biggest records.

David Cook’s smash, Light On, is the most-played song, with heavy spins at Top 40, Hot AC and Radio Disney formats. But right behind him is Kelly Clarkson with her new single, My Life Would Suck Without You, which enters as the second most-played Idol song. Daughtry’s What About Now, Cook’s Time of My Life and David Archuleta’s Crush round out the top five.

While David Cook has the most-played song on the chart, he was only the fourth most-played Idol on radio last week. Daughtry topped that list, with eight songs in our top 100, followed by Kelly and Carrie Underwood. In all, there are 23 Idols on this week’s chart.

The full song list follows:

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Big news for fans of the original American Idol. The first single from Kelly Clarkson’s upcoming album has hit the charts in a big way! And she’s not the only one doing well this week. Read on for more.

A few years ago, you couldn’t find a Billboard chart that didn’t include a single or album from the very first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson. Her singles were all over the radio and her albums sold in the millions. Then came My December, Kelly’s attempt at freeing herself from an unwanted pop star image. Although the album sold nearly 2.2 million copies worldwide and generated a couple of singles that charted respectably, it was panned by some as being too heavy. Kelly’s reign as the Alpha-Idol appeared to be over.

Fast-forward to 2009. Kelly’s back with a new single, “My Life Would Suck Without You,” and this week, the single makes its debut on the Billboard charts. The single enters the Hot 100 at #97 and is #58 on Hot 100 Airplay. It also charts on the Pop 100 (31), Pop 100 Airplay (25), Mainstream Top 40 (27), and Adult Top 40 Tracks (28). Kelly’s album, All I Ever Wanted, is due out March 10.

Kelly’s not the only Idol with a new single on the charts this week. In fact, there are two new entries from Carrie Underwood, “I Told You So,” which debuts at #37 on Hot Country Songs, and “The More Boys I Meet,” which hits the same chart at #51.

And there’s more good news for Idol fans. David Cook has catapulted back into the top ten, moving up eight spots to #10 on the Billboard 200. The album reenters Top Digital Albums at #7, and moves up from #5 to #3 on Top Rock Albums. The album is #17 on Top Internet Albums.

David’s single “Light On” also had a good week, moving up an impressive 16 spots to #23 on the Hot 100. It’s all good for Idols this week!

No doubt the increase in sales for David Cook’s album had something to do with the premiere of the eighth season of American Idol and the nice piece the show did about Cook to start the first episode. Nothing like a little boost from the show that “brung you!”

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Even though the eighth season has begun, the winner of the seventh season of “American Idol” is still No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart with his season finale song, “The Time of My Life” (19/RCA). David Cook’s reign extends to a 15th week, making “Time” one of the longest-running chart-toppers by a solo male artist in AC history.

Six songs by solo males have spent 15 weeks or more at the summit:

19 weeks: “You’ll Be in My Heart,” Phil Collins (1999)
19 weeks: “Bad Day,” Daniel Powter (2006)
18 weeks: “Lonely No More,” Rob Thomas (2005)
16 weeks: “Waiting on the World to Change,” John Mayer (2007)
15 weeks: “Hero,” Enrique Iglesias (2001)
15 weeks: “The Time of My Life,” David Cook (2008)

Source

The premiere of American Idol did wonders for former Idol finalists that weren’t country singers. David Cook jumped back into the Top 10, as 31,000 people bought his debut album, 58 percent more than the previous week’s 19,000. Cook did even better on the digital side, with a whopping 140 percent increase, going from nearly 3,000 to 7,000. That’s enough to push from from 35 on SoundScan’s Current Digital Albums chart to 7. He’ll pass 100,000 digital-album sales next week — he’s at 892,000 overall. (Only seven albums on the 50-spot Current Digital Albums chart saw sales increases last week. David had the biggest percentage increase of any of them except for the Boxer Rebellion’s Union, which made its debut.)

Source

Check out the Hits Daily Double Top 10–David Cook, rounds out the list with a 58% increase, while most of his chartmates had a decrease.

What’s the deal with the increase? Last week music from David’s album was featured on both of last week’s audition episodes. Plus, he performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live last Tuesday, the night of the Idol premiere.

That’s a nice bump, especially for January.

Check out the Cook montage featured on Tuesday’s American Idol premiere:

Phoenix was the featured audition city. There was even more pimpage the following night, when Idol auditions hit Cook’s hometown, Kansas City.

LW TW artist / album label power index % change
1 1 TAYLOR SWIFT 63,095 -14% FEARLESS
4 2 BEYONCE 51,176 5% I AM… SASHA FIERCE
2 3 NICKELBACK 48,163 -10% DARK HORSE
– 4 NOTORIOUS 39,005 – SOUNDTRACK
3 5 KANYE WEST 38,912 -23% 808S & HEARTBREAK
5 6 TWILIGHT 38,711 -9% SOUNDTRACK
6 7 BRITNEY SPEARS 33,942 -15% CIRCUS
8 8 JAMIE FOXX 32,592 0% INTUITION
7 9 KEYSHIA COLE 31,977 -12% A DIFFERENT ME
19 10 DAVID COOK 30,263 58% DAVID COOK

HDD numbers are compiled from sales data submitted by record vendors to the industry publication, Hits Daily Double. It’s a good indication of what the official Nielsen Soundscan numbers will look like later in the week.