Entertainment Weekly - USA - For the moment, it's
David Cook's world and we just live — and download — in it. That would be the conclusion to draw, anyway, from this week's digital-songs chart, where American Idol-atry has truly reached critical mass. Cook's TV coronation anthem, "Time of My Life," debuted atop that chart with 236,000 downloads.
But his success hardly stopped there: "Big" David had a total of 14 songs bow on the digital songs chart. His second-biggest single of the week, "Dream Big," bowed at No. 6 with 111,000 sold, and he claimed a third entry in the chart's top 10, selling 98,000 copies of his cover of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" (No. 9). Other Cook entries on the digital-songs chart: his maligned-by-Simon rendition of Collective Soul's "World I Know" (No. 14 with 80,000 sold); "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" (No. 21 with 60,000 sold); "Billie Jean" (No. 24 with 56,000 sold); "Always Be My Baby" (No. 29 with 47,000 sold); and "Hello" (No. 32 with 42,000 sold). It's a good sign that, when he gets around to completing an album, Cook should really be able to sell records — in bulk. (Unlike some other recent Idols.)
But Cook wasn't alone in the Idol sales bonanza this week. "Little"
David Archuleta's Simon-approved cover of "Imagine" debuted at No. 16 on the digital songs chart with 71,000 sold; his "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" came in at No. 26 with 51,000; "In This Moment" was two spots behind with 49,000; and nine more Archuleta songs appeared in the chart's top 200.
Jason Castro was the biggest winner among Idol phenoms whose name isn't David, with a No. 81 bow for his "Hallelujah." Two more Idol contestants broke into the rankings, though low enough to go almost unnoticed:
Brooke White had to settle for No. 136 with her version of "Let It Be," which sold 12,000, and
Michael Johns' "Dream On" sold a modest 9,000 to enter at No. 187. Another Idol beneficiary: Collective Soul, whose original version of "World I Know" reentered the chart at No. 67 with 23,000 in fresh sales.
