I thought this was fascinating....'American Idol' Contestant to Debut Ahead of Madonna, The Beatles
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
'American Idol" runner-up Adam Lambert is bigger than Madonna and even The Beatles.
Within hours of making his yet-to-be-released album available for pre-order on Amazon.com, a frenzy of ordering drove Lambert's ranking all the way to No. 2 on the online retailer's bestsellers list.
That put Lambert ahead of Madonna, The Beatles and world-wide sensation Susan Boyle.
Lambert's album won't be released until Nov. 24. The only CD that out-ranked him yesterday was Barbra Streisand's first new record in four years.
The sky-rocket sales seem to indicate two things: that "Idol" packs an unprecedented punch in the music business and that Lambert, like Jennifer Hudson and Chris Daughtry in past seasons, may quickly overshadow the singer who beat him in the final vote, Kris Allen.
Remarkably, Lambert's record company, RCA, did not announce that it was taking pre-release orders. The sales were all propelled by word of mouth.