Tidbits 5/22

• MTV: Idols' producers purposely conceal voting results... Nigel Lythgoe says: "If you knew, for instance, that Clay Aiken was so far ahead every week, it would be a waste of time watching."
• Press release: 11% of AI fans have a Clay CD.
• Appleton Post-Crescent: Idol article... mentions NC already has 2 idols (Clay/Fantasia)
• NJ.com: Great article about last week's news that the BAF will publish a book. (nothing new... just a new article)
• Sun Sentinel article. Katherine McPhee says she won't mind coming in 2nd... "look at Clay Aiken!" she says. (this article has been seen elsewhere under different titles)
• New York Post: Idols... where are they now article. Fantastic Clay mentions:

  But not every "Idol" runner-up has shared Guarini's fate. At least one of them - Clay Aiken, 27, second-place finisher in the second "American Idol" in May 2003 - has eclipsed that year's winner, Ruben Studdard, 27, in CD sales and concert receipts.
  
  In fact, Aiken is second only to Clarkson in overall success since appearing on "American Idol." While she leads him in CD sales, Aiken tops Clarkson in concert-ticket receipts - $28 million to $25 million.
  
  Music-industry experts note that recording stars earn more money from concerts than from CDs. That has been especially true of Aiken and Clarkson, experts say, since they are the only two "Idol" stars to emerge so far as bona-fide concert headliners.

• Note: Because of AI this week, we are expecting a lot of syndicated articles on the wire services (AP, Knight-Riddler). CDD's policy is to only post one link since it'd be quite pointless posting dozens of links to the same article housed at different sites.
• A fantastic essay from berkleylovesclay on Clay's staying power.
• FoxesOnIdol: Top 2 history... "Season 2: It was Clay vs. Ruben, and all of Idoldom was abuzz."
• BeaversOnIdol: reflections on AI5. Taylor Hicks won't have problems selling records if his fans are like "Clay lovers."
• IdolThoughts... more Idol stuff. Nothing too much here.
• MediaFiends: "Not being in the bottom 3 is almost a guarantee to win. Clay being the lone exception. But did he really lose? Look at his career alongside the winner that year."
• LA Times... Yamin, Hicks, "Unthreatening to other men, they attract female voters who exhibit the same hysterical blindness that made Clay Aiken a sex symbol"
• Wisconsin State Journal: "Women have won the last two seasons on "Idol." Not since Ruben Studdard's victory over Clay Aiken have men dominated the vote as they did this year. It's a man's turn."
• CNN Money: AI brings success for FOX, 19. "Runners-up such as Bo Bice and Clay Aiken have also had hit records."

Technorati tags: Clay Aiken, American Idol, Bubel Aiken Foundation, North Carolina, CDs, Elliott Yamin, Taylor Hicks, Katherine McPhee