Billboard Chart Alert:
Katharine McPhee, this year's second-place finisher on "American Idol," sees her "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" single sell 47,000 copies in its first full week at retail. She also sells an additional 28,000 digital downloads of the song. This all comes just two weeks after "Idol" winner Taylor Hicks crashed the charts with the formal bow of his "Do I Make You Proud?" single. It moved 190,000 copies in its first full week. Hicks also moved 38,000 digital downloads of "Proud" in its first week. His combined sales tally awarded him an easy debut at No. 1 on The Billboard Hot 100, which blends radio airplay, commercial single sales and digital downloads ... It's likely that a No. 1 bow on the Hot 100 for McPhee is out of the question, but she will certainly make a handsome debut on the chart once it is compiled later today (July 5) ... "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is of course a cover of the classic song from 1939's "The Wizard of Oz," first performed by Judy Garland. The last time the song charted on The Billboard Hot 100 was in 1978 when Gary Tanner took it to No. 69 (as "Over the Rainbow"). Before that, the Demensions peaked at No. 16 in 1960 with their version of the tune. Garland herself never charted on The Billboard Hot 100 with "Rainbow," as the chart did not exist until 1958.
