That's not the whole story. That's just the compilation of Season 8 performances sold as an album. Kris also has a "super pass" that isn't included in that number. It includes the Season 8 performances but also the next single and vids from the tour, etc.There's a whole article about how Kris is outselling Adam on Billboard --looking at the singles.
http://tinyurl.com/billboard-article
Here's the first part of the article:
"Week Ending May 24, 2009: The Kris/Adam Duel Moves To The Charts
Posted Wed May 27, 2009 11:46am PDT by Paul Grein in Chart Watch
American Idol Season 8 winner Kris Allen sold more downloads this past week than runner-up Adam Lambert did, but far fewer than David Cook did in the week after he was announced as the Season 7 winner. Allen's 11 entries on the Hot Digital Songs chart sold a combined total of 479,000 downloads. Lambert's 15 entries on that chart sold a combined total of 390,000. But both tallies are dwarfed by Cook, whose 17 chart entries sold a combined 943,000 downloads in his post-victory week last year. (One reason for the discrepancy: There are other purchasing options this year, including the iTunes Pass and digital albums.)
The order of finish was reversed on The Billboard 200 album chart, where Lambert's Season 8 Favorite Performances debuts at #33, while Allen's edition of the digital-only title arrives at #50. As every Idol watcher knows, the contestants' weekly performances are immediately available for download on iTunes. But the show shields download information until a winner is announced, to avoid revealing the building popularity of the key contestants. As of this week's charts, the Idol contestants' hits and misses are out in the open, the same as any other artist. So let's dig in...
Allen's top downloads are his widely-panned coronation song, "No Boundaries," which ranks #4 on Hot Digital Songs; his masterful interpretation of Kanye West's "Heartless," which ranks #5; and his cover of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine," which ranks #17. Lambert's top songs are his hypnotic version of Tears for Fears' "Mad World," which ranks #7; his reading of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come," which ranks #32; and his take on "No Boundaries," which ranks #43. Though Allen didn't do as well as Season 7 winner David Cook, Lambert did better than Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta. As noted, Lambert's 15 charted songs sold a combined 390,000 downloads. Archie's 12 charted songs sold a combined 301,000. "No Boundaries" was no match for Cook's coronation song, "The Time Of My Life." Cook's song sold 236,000 downloads one year ago. Allen's rendition of "No Boundaries" sold 134,000. Lambert's take on the song sold 36,000."
The article goes on to mention that Danny and Allison are also on the chart and where they rank. It also gives the info on the chart topper, Enimen. I had no idea he had sold so many albums cumulatively.
Another interesting quote from the article:
"All told, {eta: previous and current} Idol contestants hold down 40 of this week's top 200 spots. That's an impressive sign of how potent this show has been in setting the commercial agenda for pop music in the past decade."
I hope Kris and Adam both have lots of success.
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No surprise, he had had a couple of terrific performances and had had a lot of airtime, too. Kris was the next biggest seller at that time...I think it's interesting that America was already picking both of them. Danny was lagging behind Kris at that point, despite the airtime and pimpage he'd received.
