‘American Idol’ winner Caleb Johnson officially sells 11,000 copies in first week

The numbers are in, and it looks like the numbers for reigning “American Idol” champion Caleb Johnson’s debut album are slightly better than many first predicted.

Overall, “Testify” debuted to #24 at the Billboard 200, which is the lowest chart position of any artist to ever win the show. (The previous low mark was Lee DeWyze, who debuted at #19 with “Live It Up.”) In terms of sales, the album also garnered 11,000 copies in its first week … which is also a new low behind the 19,000 that Candice Glover debuted with for “Music Speaks.”

So what is the biggest thing to be upset about right now if you are Caleb? Probably just the general lack of promotion that you receive from the label, who seemed to just rush an album out there as quickly as possible. It’s too bad for his sake that this did not come out in early November, which is the prime Christmas shopping season and he would have had some more time to work on it.

Then again, the reality is just that the market for “American Idol” winners is not what it was a few years ago. Unless you are in a genre like country that is very embracing to its artist, or on a season with a huge viewing audience that is passionate about you, it’s very hard to make a big imprint. For has already claimed that one of the biggest problems with this past season was a lack of electric contestants, and while they all have fans, the sales and the ratings are just not what they needed to be.

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Photo: Fox