Tidbits 5/19

• Buddy TV - may be best Idol ... lose?

  Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken has sold nearly 5 million albums with his four records, while that year's winner, Ruben Studdard, is at just under 3 million with three albums

• Akron Beacon Journal - music charts this week...

  Top 10 Albums
  1 Home Before Dark Neil Diamond Columbia/Sony Music 2 35 Biggest Hits Toby Keith Show Dog Nashville/UMe 3 Hard Candy Madonna Warner Bros. 4 On My Way Here Clay Aiken S/19/RCA/RMG 5 E=MC2 Mariah Carey Island/IDJMG 6 Spirit Leona Lewis SYCO/J/RMG 7 Gavin DeGraw Gavin DeGraw J/RMG 06291 8 Awake Live Josh Groban 143/Reprise/Warner Bros. 9 Greatest Hits: Limited Edition Tim McGraw Curb 10 Complices Luis Miguel Warner Latina

• The Improper -

  Other idols, both winners and also-rans have had varying degrees of success. Although Clay Aiken lost to Idol winner Ruben Studdard, the boyish, and some insist gay, Aiken has had success both recording and on Broadway.
  

• Star Pulse - AI should make winning matter again -

  Winning this show became less of a big deal after its second season when the producers released Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard's singles on the same day, essentially stating to America that winning the competition on the show doesn't matter at all.

• Orlando Sentinel - winning isn't everything on Idol -

  How do you like those insights? It isn't always about winning, is it? And we have the fine examples of Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Chris Daughtry and Kellie Pickler to remind us that the "Idol" crown isn't everything.
  

• Deseret News - "And wasn't it Simon who constantly urged the public to vote for Ruben over the far more successful Clay Aiken?"
• Yahoo Finance -

  American Idol, which is wrapping up its season finale on May 22, is the most successful television show of this short century. Let that statement sink in for a moment. Yes, the show that gave us Clay Aiken and William Hung and Ryan Seacrest is the pop-cultural phenomenon of the post-9/11 world.

• Columbus Dispatch - Idol winner Taylor Hicks goes to Broadway -

  American Idol winner Taylor Hicks will make his Broadway debut June 6 as Teen Angel in the revival of Grease. Hicks follows in the footsteps of Idol contestants Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray), Fantasia (The Color Purple) and Constantine Maroulis (The Wedding Singer).

• There Was A Man gives us a montage of a clip from "Dancing with the Stars" set to Clay's "Sacrificial Love" ... wow!