Candice Glover’s "Music Speaks" sold just 19K copies in its first week. That's the lowest first-week sales tally for the debut album by an "American Idol" winner in the show's 12-year history. The old record was set in 2010 when Lee DeWyze's "Live It Up" sold 39K copies in its first week.
"Music Speaks" enters The Billboard 200 at #14. That's a bit higher than "Live It Up," which debuted and peaked at #19.
A technical glitch in the iTunes store may have cost Glover some sales. According to Hits Magazine, 11K pre-orders of the album were marked as fulfilled in November, even though the album hadn't been delivered. If any of those 11K customers still wanted the album three months later, they would have had to place the order again. That's not an insurmountable hurdle if you really want something, but it gives a customer an easy out if their interest has waned.
Here are the first-week sales tallies of the
first post-coronation albums by each of the "Idol" winners. They're shown from the biggest first week on down:
Ruben Studdard's "Soulful" (417K),
Carrie Underwood's "Some Hearts" (315K),
Taylor Hicks' "Taylor Hicks" (298K),
Kelly Clarkson's "Thankful" (297K),
David Cook's "David Cook" (280K),
Fantasia's "Free Yourself" (240K),
Scotty McCreery's "Clear As Day" (197K),
Phillip Phillips' "World From The Side Of The Moon" (169K),
Jordin Sparks' "Jordin Sparks" (119K),
Kris Allen's "Kris Allen" (80K),
Lee DeWyze's "Live It Up" (39K),
Candice Glover's "Music Speaks" (19K)
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