http://news.yahoo.com/s/eonline/20080821/en_tv_eo/25317

Idol Wild: Archuleta "Crushes" Cook on Charts David Jenison
Thu Aug 21, 8:21 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - David Cook topped David Archuleta in their American Idol showdown, but now the little D has gotten some extra-large revenge.

The 17-year-old Archuleta's "Crush" has debuted at No. 2 on the Hot 100 singles chart, besting the No. 3 opening of Cook's "The Time of My Life" in June.

In fact, Archuleta just netted the biggest bow since Fall Out Boy's "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" also debuted at No. 2 back in January 2007.

Archuleta is the first runner-up to outperform the reigning champ since the head-to-head matchup between Clay Aiken's "This Is the Night" and season-two victor Ruben Studdard's "Flying Without Wings." Aiken topped Studdard with what became the best-selling single of 2003.

"Crush" is the biggest bow by an Idol contestant for a song never performed on the show—in comparison, his show single "Imagine" actually underperformed with a No. 36 debut. Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" is the only other nondebut single by an Idol contestant to reach as high as the No. 2 spot.

While Archuleta now claims the higher Hot 100 debut, Cook's "The Time of My Life" did better in the download department, selling 236,000 digital copies in its opening week to 166,000 copies for "Crush." Cook also set a SoundScan-era record that first week, when 11 of his songs cracked the Hot 100, topping Miley Cyrus' record of six. Only the Beatles have charted more songs at once with 14 spots back in '64.

Unfortunately for Cook, his No. 3 peak for "Time" also made him just the second Idol champ whose big-moment single failed to open in one of the top two spots. (Jordin Sparks missed the mark as well with a tepid No. 15 bow for "This Is My Now.")

Next up, the two Davids will go mano a mano in November, when both their albums are tentatively scheduled for release.

I hesitated to reply to this article, but had to laugh at some of the absurdity of it.

How is debuting at #2 (DA) vs. #3 (DC) a CRUSH? I know the writer is referencing DA's single CRUSH--but really.

Also, the placing in the charts is determined by many variables on a particular week--including what other songs happen to be "hot" or "new" that particular week. Not sure what the actual numbers in spins and sales were for individual singles for those particular weeks.

Debuting at #2 or #3 is almost a "tie" in my book and this isn't even a David Cook original song we are talking about--it is the coronation song!

And comparing David Cook's debut at #3 to Jordin's at #15 is ridiculous.

And just look at how well TOML is doing after 3 months of play.

Enough said...

It's ludicrous! It just means that Cook fans took their sweet time that week getting the download that week, but still outsold Archie's song by 70,000 in a week's time. I imagine all those rabid little archie fan's jumped on it quick. Some did not even view TOML as a Cook song in the first place and are waiting untill his real rock music is coming out. Even at that, TOML still has potential of being a platinum. It's not over yet and the song is growing on more people as it has taken on new meanings.

^^ i agree with you 110%!! when i first read this article, i honestly couldn't believe the accusation of Cook charting next to Jordin Sparks.....(they contradicted themselves by explaining where Sparks charted, and then where Cook charted ) and TOML is just beautiful, and has lasting potential just by the meaning and love put into the song (the story behind the writing and making of the song is remarkable)

now, definately NO diss to archie, because his song is catchy ...i just get mad when Archie fans find this music business to be "competitive" , when really, they are both stars, and are equally as amazing as the other its just notoriety, and it has become exccedingly both bothersome and mean (hence the title)

I have talked about how different the songs are so much and mentioned how it is comparing apples to oranges, I feel like I could start my own fruit stand by now.

One song is prepared for one singer to be a top 40 hit. The other is a coronation song that the other singer had to sing because it had the most votes on a TV show despite who the show winner was. I'm not saying it is a bad song because I think it is great. It is just not a song that was intended to be a hit by the person who had to sing it. I just can't understand why article after article feels the need to compare them when the situations are totally different. I guess they think they are so clever because they can use the word crush in a catchy title.

Wake me up with David Cook's new single is released then I'll pay attention.

Jeannine

This is the same E! article that started this whole mess. There's been enough said about it. The more we comment about it the more we help to encourage this kind of smut, which hurts David. The article was repurposed over the weekend (and the lesser entertainment sources repurpose EVERYTHING on E!, so it's nothing personal) so the wider world has already forgotten about it. We should, too.

i agree with you...i posted this the exact same time as everyone else posted this article, and i regretted it after i had done so... i mean, i disagreed with it from the beginning, but after reading it over, its just overpublicized to the 9th degree over a competition that doesn't need to be there. there is no competition anymore, we already know whom we are devoted fans to, and thats the end of the story.