‘American Idol’ winner Candice Clover, Kree Harrison’s singles start below past finalists

Just like the ratings for “American Idol” this season, the first-week single sales for both the winner and the runner-up did not exactly go in the right direction in comparison to ones from previous years.

According to a new report from USA Today, Candice Glover’s coronation song “I Am Beautiful” scored just 54,000 copies. While this number would probably be great for a young artists just starting out without the show, it is far lower than any other winner in the show’s history, even those whose final song on the season was just a cover track. Phillip Phillips’ “Home” sold 278,000 copies in the first week last year, which is evidence of just how important it is to have a single that catches the attention of fans almost right away. Candice’s song was not necessarily terrible, but it failed to really grab any casual fan with the melody or the lyrics.

The news is not any better for Kree Harrison and “All Cried Out,” as her single only mustered 25,000 copies sold. Clearly, this is not great news, and if you are looking for someone to play the blame game with, you would have to look at producers for the judging panel and the production choices that caused the lower ratings. Then, Interscope takes some of the blame for not coming up with amazing songs. If the producers are going to change course again, they need to really put optimal effort into making sure that these songs are really something that will turn these artists into stars.

What do you think about these sales numbers? If you missed the rather interesting rumor from earlier in the day regarding whether or not Adam Lambert, Jennifer Hudson, and some other past contestants could return as judges, you should head on over to the link here.

Photo: Fox