http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/articl...t_id=1003808894



Season seven "American Idol" champion David Cook will set a record for debut entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs tomorrow as 11 titles enter the former, while 14 songs jump on the download tally. The onslaught is led by a No. 3 Hot 100 start for his original recording "The Time of My Life," which shifts 236,000 downloads to easily take the No. 1 spot on Hot Digital Songs.

"Idol" runner-up David Archuleta lands three songs on both charts, led by his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" (No. 36 Hot 100, No. 16 on Hot Digital Songs, 71,000).

Cook's takeover of the Hot 100 shatters the mark for debuts set by Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana) in the Nov. 11, 2006, issue, when she placed six new titles on the list. The 11 songs on the chart are the most in a week by any artist in the Nielsen Music era, which began in December 1991 when the chart converted to Nielsen BDS and Nielsen SoundScan data.

His haul also marks the most placements on the list since the Beatles charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in the week of April 11, 1964.

The 14 tracks on Hot Digital Songs also gives Cook a record for debuts and total songs on that three-year-old chart, besting Hannah Montana's total output (8) on the Nov. 11, 2006 chart, and Bon Jovi's six debuts in the May 19, 2007, issue.

This is the first week of the 2008 season that "American Idol" downloads counted toward Billboard's charts. In cooperation with the show's producers, Apple withheld reporting iTunes sales of those songs until the week of the final episode.

WAY TO GO !!! YOU ROCK!!!! I MUST SAY I HAVE DOWNLOADED QUITE A FEW SONGS MYSELF!!!! love the man!!!

I was getting ready to post this in that other thread. LOL How impressive is this! WOW!

The most since The Beatles! Perhaps that will shut up the haters

WAY TO GO D.COOK!

Awww...I am so proud of our cookie!!!!!

I think this is only a small indication of what is to come in his career. I'm so happy for him!

Thank's for reporting this! Just wait until he comes out with his own music!

This is just awesome, fantastic, and as Paula would say "I would expect nothing more from" our David Cook! LOLOLOL!

But of course you know what she meant and what I mean now--

So proud to believe in David Cook!

If it's an accumulation of all the downloads since each song was put up, I wonder how it breaks down week-by-week. I would love to see how many downloads each song had in it's first week(I didn't download MOTN until the last minute!)

And, the first week for TOML is awesome!! Especially since it wasn't even for a full week!

I don't think it's the cumulative totals. The charts are for a week period. It is just that this is the first time AI has allowed the numbers to released. Once the show was over, it could no longer influence folks.