^Apparently you don't understand the definition of plummeting. If it were plummeting, it would be getting ratings around 15-10 mill this season. Right now their ratings are hurting because the Winter Olympics air at the same time, and in the U.S., sports > music apparently (
). AI 9's premiere was actually HIGHER than last season. The portion of Hollywood Week that didn't have Olympic competition was the same as last season's. It's still the highest rated show on American television. (Except last Wednesday when the Winter Olympics held that title.)
Kris Allen is not an epic flop. His song is currently #21 on iTunes, and has peaked inside the top 15 already and is still moving up on pop radio, which by the way, it is in the top 20 there. The runner up, Adam, is #20 on iTunes, with his song at #21 on pop radio. That's far from flopping. The only flops from last season is Allison and Danny and that's only because their labels aren't handling them well at all. (Which is surprising because they're signed to pretty good labels. - Well at least Allison is. I don't know what label Danny is signed to.)