Downloading Your Idols

Season seven of “American Idol” might be over, but the finalists’ digital sales are just taking off, totaling 1.5 million single downloads just a week after the show’s finale. The two Davids, 25-year-old Cook and 17-year-old Archuleta, topped the list, with winner Cook selling 942,000 tracks and runner-up Archuleta following with 323,000.

David and David were the only contestants to break the six-figure mark for number of downloads and their sales reflect how they fared in the contest. The order of the rest of the top 10’s download figures, however, don’t quite match the order in which they were booted from the show. Twenty-year-old Jason Castro clocked in third for downloads (64,000), but placed fourth on the show, while Syesha Mercado, 21, trailed just behind the Davids in the competition, but came in seventh in downloads (18,000).

Fifth-place winner Brooke White and eighth-place winner Michael Johns sold 47,000 and 40,000 downloads, respectively, following Castro’s 64,000. Carly Smithson placed sixth both in the show and for downloads (33,000), followed by Mercado, Kristy Lee Cook (10,000), Chikezie (5,000) and Ramiele Mulabay (3,000).