Adam Lambert
Photo: David Livingston/ Getty Images

Adam Lambert clearly likes to have fun with his image. He loves the glamorous worlds of rock and roll and disco. He's not afraid to wear makeup and glitter. Plus, he likes to poke fun at people's perceptions of him, as he does on the kitschy cover for his forthcoming debut album, For Your Entertainment. But when it comes to his music, Lambert isn't shy about shedding his pop-star persona and singing about deeper emotions.

"The dress-up supports that; the fantasy element supports it. People want to talk about whether I have rock cred, whether I'm selling out, the theatricality, the gay stuff. ... Chill out! And just enjoy yourself," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not that deep. ... Sometimes it is deep. Some of the songs on the album are."

He said songs like the unreleased Muse track "Soaked" and the ballad "Broken Open" are examples of being vulnerable. But there are definitely fun tracks on the album as well. "Sometimes it's just, 'This is hot, I feel good, this song makes me want to go get a drink and flirt with somebody and have a good time.' Good energy is just as credible as the cathartic, dark, heavy stuff," he said. "It's just as important!"

Lambert also talks about how his image, which he says is of a gay man pushing the straight boundaries, is more like something Beyoncé is doing than other male "American Idol" alumni like Chris Daughtry and David Cook. "People look at me and immediately say, 'Oh, he's doing the musical-theater thing,' " he explained. "But if you look at most female pop stars right now, how are they any less theater? Beyoncé is doing 'Single Ladies' with two girls in character shoes and leotards, doing [Bob] Fosse choreography from 'Sweet Charity' and 'West Side Story.' "

The album is a reflection of Lambert's overwhelming musical influences ranging from rock to pop to dance music. In the interview he cites Christina Aguilera's rise to fame.

"I listen to crazy, robust rock music where they sing their faces off, and soul music, which can be similar," he said. "But I also listen to a lot of dance music. I love that style. I was a Paula Abdul fan, a Michael Jackson fan, a Madonna fan. When Christina Aguilera came out when I was in high school, that was a great example of someone taking the pop-dance feel but who could really sing. Pop stars have done it; it's just not a lot of guys have done it. Maybe it's a question of masculine persona."

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

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• Daughtry

Fabolous' <i>Loso's Way</i>
Photo: Def Jam

Fabolous will have his way with the Billboard 200 charts next week, when his latest, Loso's Way, snags the top spot in a quiet week of album sales. According to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, the Brooklyn MC will easily nab the top spot as the only debut in the top 10, with sales of almost 99,000.

The rest of the heap will remain largely unchanged, with Daughtry's sophomore effort, Leave This Town, resting comfortably again at #2 (62,000), a resurgent Maxwell hanging onto the #3 spot with BLACKsummers'night (55,000), followed by the Now That's What I Call Music! 31 compilation (#4, 53,000) and the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (Energy Never Dies) (#5, 49,000). While most of the usual suspects in the top 10 suffered either double-digit declines from the previous week or marginal losses/gains, band of brothers (and cousin) Kings of Leon continue their upward march with Only by the Night, which saw a 21 percent increase in sales to 47,000 and will move up two spots to #6.

The Hannah Montana 3 soundtrack settles in at #7 (41,000), trailed by Demi Lovato's Here We Go Again (39,000), which shed 64 percent of its business in week two. Taylor Swift's Fearless comes in at #9 with 38,000, and Lady Gaga's Fame, which holds tight at #10 (27,000).

Just outside the top, Ashley Tisdale's Guilty Pleasure debuts at #12 (25,000), while Kristinia DeBarge musters an initial bow down at #23 with her debut, Exposed (17,000). After a disappointing #7 entry last week, former "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks' second album, Battlefield, took a serious hit in week two (18,000), dropping down to #21 and shedding 63 percent of its first-week sales.

While Fab can celebrate his #1 debut in the top 200, over on the Comprehensive Albums chart, he'll have to settle for being #2, as Michael Jackson's Number Ones once again leads the overall sales parade with sales of 114,000 in a top five still dominated by three of the late pop star's albums, including Essential Michael Jackson (#3, 69,000) and the iconic Thriller (#5, 59,000).

The top 10 should remain relatively settled next week, as no major releases are slated to hit the charts.

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• Jordin Sparks
• Maxwell
• Daughtry

Daughtry
Photo: MTV News

Carrie Underwood's first album hit #2 on the Billboard albums chart, and two years later, her second album rocketed all the way to the top spot. Taylor Hicks' debut hit #2, while his follow-up stalled out at #58. Clearly, "American Idol" alumni have a mixed record when it comes to their sophomore albums.

On Wednesday (July 22), when next week's Billboard chart was released, season-five "Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry showed everyone which category he belongs in. His band's 2006 album reached #1 nine weeks after its release and eventually went four-times platinum. This week, his band's new album, Leave This Town, shot straight to #1.

"We put a lot of heart, soul and tears into this record, [and] coffee — a lot of caffeine, lot of Red Bull," Daughtry told MTV News before the album came out. "It's the best work we've done yet, we think, and we hope the fans think so too."

Guitarist Josh Steely knew the band would beat the sophomore jinx. "Our first single is already at #1," he said in May. "Our fans have been waiting so much for this. It's gonna do great."

Howard Benson, who produced both Daughtry albums, credits the frontman's work ethic as perhaps the most important ingredient that went into producing the second disc. "He turned out to be probably the hardest-working artist I've worked with," he told MTV News in a pre-release interview. "This guy appreciates where he's at and what he has, and he knows he hit the jackpot."

Mostly session musicians recorded the '06 album, but this time, Daughtry's band was fully in place for This Town. The result, Benson said, is "more of a coherent album. It doesn't feel like it's all over the place with the songs."

Ultimately, though, Benson sees Daughtry's commitment to starting a band — instead of embarking on a solo career — as the thing that lent his post-"Idol" career credibility and longevity. "That band idea of his was genius," Benson said. "It's created more of a reality for his project, as opposed to it just being him. You can't push him around anymore, style-wise. The band is the style. That's who they are."

• Daughtry

Daughtry
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ Getty Images

Being #1 is nothing new to Chris Daughtry. Debuting there is. Back in 2006, his band's self-titled debut went to the top of the Billboard charts in its ninth week of release. The follow-up, Leave This Town, didn't bother waiting that long: It will bow at #1 right out of the gate.

Town sold more than 269,000 copies to land atop the Billboard 200 albums chart, according to numbers provided by Nielsen SoundScan, giving the former "American Idol" contestant another line on his already impressive résumé.

Daughtry's first album was the fastest-selling rock debut in SoundScan history, placing five consecutive singles in the top five of the Adult Top 40 radio charts and selling more than 7 million copies worldwide. Sales of that debut also shot up more than 46 percent this week, as it moved from #100 all the way up to #65.

But back inside the top 10, Daughtry more than doubled the sales of his closest competitor, Maxwell, whose BLACKsummers'night slipped to #2 with sales of more than 103,000 copies. The latest "Hannah Montana" soundtrack is next at #3, selling about 73,000 copies, followed by the Now That's What I Call Music! 31 compilation (69,000) and the Black Eyed Peas' The E.N.D. (54,000).

Following those albums is a trio of new releases. Debuting at #6 is Horehound, the debut from Jack White's skuzzy new supergroup the Dead Weather. Horehound sold nearly 51,000 copies, giving White his sixth top 10 album. Joe's Signature debuts at #7, with sales of nearly 49,000 copies, and motormouthed rapper Twista debuts at #8, selling more than 45,000 copies of his Category F5 album.

The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by Taylor Swift's Fearless (#9, 37,000) and the Kings of Leon's Only by the Night (33,000).

Other debuts on next week's chart include Christian pop trio PureNRG's The Real Thing at #20, rockers August Burns Red (#24) and Owl City (#27) and the soundtrack to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" at #29. And at #50 is another former "Idol" contestant, Brooke White, whose High Hopes & Heartbreak sold nearly 10,000 copies.

• Daughtry
• Maxwell

Chris Daughtry in the video for "No Surprise"
Photo: RCA Records

Here's the thing about Chris Daughtry: He is an exceedingly regular guy (aside from his Lex Luthor dome and Pharaoh-with-a-Norelco facial hair). This is particularly noteworthy considering that his band's 2006 self-titled album is the fastest-selling rock debut in SoundScan history, moving more than 5 million units, birthing seven singles and staying lodged in the top half of the Billboard 200 for more than two years.

This is the kind of success that usually changes dudes, adds pages to their riders and members to their entourages. It turns them into Rock Stars. Chris Daughtry is different, though. He most certainly isn't a Rock Star.

I mean, of course, he is, but he still goes out of his way to maintain his blue-collar, hard-workin' everydude persona. He makes it a point of mentioning that he is just the lead singer of a band, a democracy in which everyone writes riffs, records tracks, tours hard and shares the bounty. He just happens to be the focal point, though he is no more important than, say, drummer Joey Barnes, whose name I just had to look up.

This is all very admirable, but it's also part of the key to his success. And Daughtry the everyman is back with a new album, Leave This Town, due July 14, which is bound to dominate the charts. And to begin that conquest, he's released the video for the first single, "No Surprise," and it's definitely the most everydude thing he's ever done.

It opens in a nondescript factory in some nondescript — though very dusty — town, with Chris and the boys rocking out and whoa-oh-oh-ing into the wide-open spaces. A battered old pickup rolls into frame, and from it emerges a good-looking (yet clearly down-on-his-luck) blue-collar worker (we know this because he carries a battered rucksack and displays several pensive looks). He's looking for work, but alas, the foreman tells him there's none to be had here. Daughtry himself drives by in a red Mustang convertible and witnesses the whole thing, and we know he is upset and concerned because he shoots that very look to the camera. He feels your pain.

Cut to a nondescript diner in (the same) nondescript-yet-dusty-town, where a good-looking (yet clearly down-on-her-luck) young waitress is being yelled at by her mean old boss. She is having a bad day, one that gets even worse when she dumps a soda on a horrified customer (not her fault, she got bumped!) and you know what happens next: She's canned by the boss, and tosses her apron on the floor in disgust, while two of the other dudes in Daughtry look on sullenly. They feel your pain too.

As it turns out, the good-looking guy and gal are a couple, and they're having money problems (one would think they could always go into modeling ... I've heard it pays pretty well), which leads to bickering. They go to bed angry, and the next morning, she wakes up and he's gone. She heads out looking for him (in cut-offs, since, you know, she's the salt of the earth), and this is where the video and the song merge: "No Surprise" is a classic breaking-up-is-hard-to-do tune, the kind a million guys and gals separated by time or space or the open road or the military have experienced a million times before, and it ends the way these things usually do: messily, but for the best. Sure it might hurt now, Daughty wants you to know, but we both know that the split was for the best. Perhaps this couple are heading down that path. Maybe they're already there.

We get no answers, though. The clip ends with the couple sitting on either side of a rock, overlooking that very dusty (and, it would seem, utterly hopeless) town. They both look pensive and scared. Probably because they should be. And Daughtry and his boys provide no solutions, either to their economic woes or their relationship troubles, because, well, they don't have them. No one does. In matters of love and finance, Chris Daughtry is still the ultimate everydude, and he doesn't know how to make things work either. Well played, sir.

• Daughtry

Daughtry
Photo: Michael Caulfield/ Getty Images

In a season in which "American Idol" has welcomed back some of its most popular winners, next Wednesday night's show will see the return of one of the most famous, and best-selling, alumni who did not win the show: Chris Daughtry.

The bald rocker and his band will come back to the "Idol" stage on the May 6 results show to debut "No Surprise," the first single from Daughtry's upcoming as-yet-untitled second album. The band is currently finishing the disc, due July 14, which is the follow-up to its Grammy-nominated, quadruple-platinum 2006 debut.

" 'American Idol' fans have been so loyal to this band, we wanted to give them the first listen to our new single," Daughtry said a statement announcing the new album. The singer revealed via Twitter that he co-wrote "No Surprise" with pal Chad Kroeger, lead singer of Nickelback. He also tweeted that after watching Tuesday night's performance show he thinks that Kris Allen is the "SHIZNIT-O-Bam!!!"

The band — which also includes bassist Josh Paul, drummer Joey Barnes, and guitarists Brian Craddock and Josh Steely — recorded the album's 10-plus songs in Los Angeles, and the press release announcing the disc describes it as having a "more gritty sound," honed by two years on the road supporting the fastest-selling debut rock album in SoundScan history.

And, despite being a married father of two, Daughtry tweeted on Tuesday morning that he "can't wait to get back onstage soon."

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• Daughtry

Denver's Pepsi Center
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Four years ago in Boston, a little-known senator from Illinois made his debut on the national stage with a stirring keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. This year, that senator, Barack Obama, will again give a pivotal speech at the DNC, but this time he'll be the headliner and his speech will be a historic acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

More than 50,000 people will attend the convention — including 5,000 delegates and 15,000 reporters — which will take place Monday (August 25) through Thursday at Denver's Pepsi Center. The convention will be capped on Thursday by Obama's eagerly anticipated speech in front of 75,000 at INVESCO Field at Mile High during a free event open to the public.

Thursday will mark the first time since John F. Kennedy's 1960 address at Los Angeles' Memorial Coliseum that a Democratic nominee has given his acceptance speech outside the convention's main floor. Given the image of youth and change that Obama has cultivated during the campaign season, the allusion to Democratic history is clearly intended to tug on heartstrings. The speech will also coincide with the 45th anniversary of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, another bit of serendipity that provides further emotional resonance for the man who has made history as the first black presidential nominee of either major political party.

But just what is the purpose of the gathering, and why are Democrats spending a reported $40 million-plus on the event? Some facts about the convention:

» Delegates from each of the 50 states meet at the Democratic National Convention every four years to select the Democratic candidates for president and vice president.

» The event, which typically takes place in a major city such as Chicago (11 times), Baltimore (eight) or New York (five), is not open to the public, but only to delegates, the press, party members and other invited guests. The Denver convention will take place on the 100th anniversary of the party's 1908 convention in that city.

» A complicated formula is used to determine how many delegates are invited from each state, using the number of votes cast in the past three elections. It looks something like this: (State's Democratic Vote/Total Democratic Vote) + (State's Electoral Vote/Total Electoral Vote)/ 2 X 3,000 = # of Delegates Per State. The formula ensures that heavily Democratic states have a higher number of delegates. Organizers expect 4,440 delegates to attend, with 4,235 casting votes.

» Thanks to his lead in elected delegates and superdelegates, Obama is expected to receive the nomination. Democratic Representative Loretta Sanchez, however, predicted that half of the Democrats in the House could cast their votes for Obama's former rival for the nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton. The Obama campaign has agreed to allow a floor vote at the convention to assuage Clinton supporters, though even Clinton has said she plans to vote for Obama.

» Delegates are not paid for their participation, and most will come at their own expense after being selected on a statewide level in a sometimes complicated process that involves some politicking of its own. Some as young as 19 will be participating for the first time alongside party veterans. The youngest delegate is Minnesota's David Gilbert-Pederson, 17, who is one of two delegates under 18 expected at the event; almost 15 percent of the delegates are 36 years old or younger.

» The incumbent party traditionally holds its convention after the challenging party's. The Republican convention will take place in Minneapolis-St. Paul during the first week of September. The conventions were pushed back this year due to the Olympics.

» House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be nominated to chair the convention, whose first day's theme will be "One Nation." On Monday's schedule: an address from Michelle Obama and a tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy.

» After a bruising primary season in which Senator Obama ran neck-and-neck with Senator Clinton, Democrats faced the possibility of a brokered convention, during which the nominee would not have been chosen until a vote at the convention. But that potentially divisive option was avoided when Clinton conceded the race to Obama.

» Michigan and Florida had their delegate votes docked for moving their primaries to January, but after much wrangling and back-and-forth, the two states were granted half-votes each at the convention.

» Tuesday's speakers include Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona and Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, all of whom had generated buzz as potential running mates. The theme is "Renewing America's Promise," and the keynote speaker will be former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Senator Clinton will also give a speech during prime time, and the party's proposed national platform will be discussed and debated.

» Wednesday's theme is "Securing America's Future." Former President Bill Clinton will address the convention, as will vice presidential candidate Joe Biden. Former presidential candidate Bill Richardson is also among the speakers, as well as 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

» The final day's theme is "Change You Can Believe In." Obama will deliver his speech that evening.

» According to the DNC, California will have the biggest delegation at 503, with American Samoa pulling up the rear with 13 delegates. Journalists from more than 130 nations will converge on the event.

» Some terms you might hear during the convention:

At-Large Delegate: These are pledged delegates who are the very last to be elected on a statewide level and represent presidential candidates in proportion to the statewide vote the candidate received in the primary or caucus.

Credentials Committee: This group resolves any disputes over the seating of delegates and alternates to the convention.

Platform: This is the official statement of the party's position on a variety of important issues. Each issue included in the platform is called a "plank."

The convention won't be all politicians and funny hats, though. According to the New York Daily News there will be serious star power on-hand as well, including possible appearances by George Clooney, Madonna, Kanye West, Scarlett Johansson, Susan Sarandon, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Matt Damon.

James Taylor and Tony Bennett are performing at a fundraiser for Pelosi during the event, and Kanye West is reportedly hosting a gig in honor of the Recording Industry Association of America. Among the stars that could make appearances are Annette Bening and hubby Warren Beatty, Matthew Modine and Kerry Washington.

Rock the Vote will hold an event called the Ballot Bash during the first night of the convention; it will feature sets from Fall Out Boy, N.E.R.D. and Jakob Dylan, with an afterparty DJ'd by Nick Cannon. In addition, Rage Against the Machine will be playing a gig during the DNC — as well as during the Republican convention the following week — as part of a larger protest called the "Tent State Music Festival to End the War." Daughtry, Everclear and the Flobots will play a show sponsored by the Grammy Foundation during the DNC as well. Other acts playing during the convention include Death Cab for Cutie, Cold War Kids and Moby.

And don't worry about missing out on the action: MTV News and our Street Team '08 will be on the ground at both conventions to sort through all the speeches, streamers and ceremony to find the information you need to choose our next president. And head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election. And after history is made in Denver, MTV News will help you make sense of it all in "Obama Decoded," premiering Friday, August 29 at 7:30.

• Fall Out Boy
• Daughtry
• N.E.R.D.
• The Flobots

Chris Daughtry
Photo: Michael Waring/ RCA

Chris Daughtry, the Grammy-nominated artist who lost to Taylor Hicks (remember him?) on the fifth season of "American Idol," and CNN, the 'round-the-clock cable news channel that made Wolf Blitzer a household name: It's a strange pairing, but one that began six months ago, when Foreigner's Mick Jones was approached about a little song he once wrote.

"CNN contacted me about this whole thing they're doing for the election — trying to encourage people to vote — and they told us they were approaching Chris for the project," Jones told MTV News in an exclusive interview Monday (August 18), about Daughtry's cover of the 1977 hit "Feels Like the First Time." "I'm a big fan of his. He's got a great voice, and I thought it would be a really good idea. So I just gave my blessing to the project, and they took it from there."

Daughtry's take on "First Time," which was recorded in April with producer Howard Benson (My Chemical Romance, All-American Rejects), will not only appear on Daughtry Deluxe, a re-release of his band's gazillion-selling 2006 debut, but it will also serve as the theme for the network's League of First Time Voters initiative, designed to get first-time voters excited about the upcoming election — one Jones realizes is important for America.

"It really is a huge crossroads for America," Jones said. "I think people have come to realize what a big mistake the last time they'd voted was — it might have been, anyway. There are two very viable candidates, as far as I'm concerned, and there is one who will be a revolutionary candidate in a way and change the direction of America, and I think the more people that get out there to vote, that's extremely important."

According to Jones, Daughtry was one of the only singers who could have re-created the song and done it justice.

"It's a song that requires a really strong voice to carry it off, and he's got the range and the power to really do it convincingly," Jones said. "I don't think there are that many singers around at the moment that could really nail it. ... Out of all the singers of that style, he's the strongest. He's just a great singer all around. It doesn't matter what style it is, he could pretty much sing anything."

Jones said he heard Daughtry's version just recently and was blown away by how well the finished product turned out. "I think it's not too far away from the original," he said. "They've modernized it a bit — brought it up to today's standards, with the sound and arrangement too. ... When I heard it, it made me think back to when we recorded the original. It was pretty exciting at the time, and I sort of got the same feeling when I heard Chris' version."

Foreigner, who will be on tour through mid-November in support of the recently released No End in Sight: The Very Best of Foreigner — a collection that features the band's first piece of new material in years — will be hitting the studio this fall to begin recording their first LP since 1994's Mr. Moonlight. Jones said that the yet-untitled effort will most likely land in stores sometime in late spring.

Get informed! Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace's Presidential Dialogues, and much more.

• Daughtry

Chris Daughtry
Photo: Charley Gallay/ Getty Images

Political conventions can get a little boring, what with the speeches and the banner-waving and the speeches. Luckily for Democrats planning to attend their party's convention in Denver later this month, Daughtry will be on hand to provide some rock relief.

Along with the Flobots and Everclear, Daughtry is scheduled to play a show called "Grammys Rock the Conventions," benefiting the Grammy Foundation's effort to shine some light on music education and the issues affecting the creative community. The bands will play host to an up-close-and-personal acoustic evening at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 26.

The initial lineup for the corresponding gig for the Republican convention on September 2 will have a bit less star power, however. The Recording Academy is providing the expected coronation of Senator John McCain with a show in Minneapolis titled "The Songwriters Circle: The Songs We Love," which will feature performances by Grammy-winning songwriter Brett James (Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel") and up-and-coming singer/songwriter Greg Laswell ("What a Day"), with more songwriters to be announced soon.

While the Grammy events are nonpartisan, you can bet that there will be a fair amount of politicking and metaphorical stone-throwing (but hopefully no real stone-throwing) at some of the other shows being planned during the Republican convention. Rage Against the Machine will be hitting the Twin Cities for a September 3 show, while Rage guitarist Tom Morello, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Billy Bragg and Steve Earle are scheduled to play the Service Employees International Union's "Take Back Labor Day" Festival on September 1.

And don't worry about missing out on the action yourself: MTV News and our Street Team '08 will be on the ground at both conventions to sort through all the speeches, streamers and ceremony to find the information you need to choose our next president.

• Daughtry
• The Flobots
• Everclear

David Cook
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

He's been the nation's seventh American Idol for less than a week, but David Cook is already proving that, when it comes to marketable, bankable artists, he certainly fits the bill.

"The Time of My Life," the coronation song that Cook belted out at the close of last week's "Idol" finale, opens at #1 on next week's Billboard Hot Digital Tracks chart, which ranks the best-selling digital singles nationwide. With 236,000-plus downloads, Cook bumps Rihanna's "Take a Bow" from the top spot — but that's not all.

All told, 17 of the songs the 25-year-old Missouri guitarist performed during the show's most recent season are sprinkled throughout the list, according to the latest SoundScan figures. Cook's "Dream Big" follows at #7 (with 111,000 downloads), while his rendition of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from the season's final performance episode occupies the #9 position, having generated 97,900 downloads. At #14, with 80,000 downloads, it's Cook's cover of Collective Soul's "The World I Know," while his take on Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" was downloaded 60,000 times, earning it the chart's #18 spot.

Likewise, Cook's version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" comes in at #21 (with 56,300 sold), his rendition of Mariah Carey's "Always Be My Baby" follows at #27 (46,600), and his performance of Lionel Richie's "Hello" occupies the #30 slot (42,300).

For being this year's "Idol" runner-up, David Archuleta isn't doing so bad himself. While he failed to inspire the sort of download action that Cook has, his take on Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" was the country's 23rd-most downloaded song, with sales of nearly 50,700. Two spots behind that, with 49,100 downloads, is his first single, "In This Moment," followed at #36 by his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine," which generated close to 40,000 downloads. Archuleta has 11 other songs on next week's download chart.

Not only was it a good week to be an "American Idol" finalist, it was also a good week to be an artist affiliated with the program. Disco diva Donna Summer appeared on the show last week, and her latest LP, Crayons, enters next week's Billboard Top 200 at #17 with 22,600 copies scanned during its initial week of release. Similarly, former "Idol" winner Carrie Underwood — who also appeared on the reality show last week — enjoyed a 58 percent boost in sales, sending her Carnival Ride up eight spots to #16 with 25,000 sold.

Former "Idol" hopeful Daughtry's self-titled debut experienced a 31 percent surge in retail interest to end the week at #20 — a 10-position jump — with 19,700 sold. And lastly, OneRepublic, who performed their hit "Apologize" alongside Archuleta, saw sales of their Dreaming Out Loud swell a whopping 107 percent to close the week out with 17,300 scans; the album, which sits in the #24 slot, shot up 64 positions on the chart.

All in all, there are 17 new releases cracking next week's Billboard album sales chart, with three of those opening in the top spots. With 154,300 copies sold during week one, 3 Doors Down's self-titled album bows on top, making it the band's second-straight #1 debut; 2005's Seventeen Days also opened at #1, but with 231,400 sold. Right behind them at #2, with 98,000 copies snatched up, is Bun B's II Trill, and with 67,000 in reported sales, it's the self-titled debut offering from "Dancing With the Stars" bombshell Julianne Hough at #3.

Jesse McCartney's Departure enters next week's chart at #14, having sold 30,200 units during its first week in stores, while Green Day vanity project Foxboro Hot Tubs' Stop Drop and Roll!!! follows at #21 with 18,900 scans. The soundtrack to "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" opens at #39 with close to 14,000 sold, while the Dresden Dolls' No, Virginia ... bows at #94 with 7,300 copies scanned. Actress Scarlett Johansson's collection of Tom Waits covers, Anywhere I Lay My Head, impacts the chart at #126 with 5,100 sold, while Mates of State's Re-Arrange Us comes in at #140, selling 4,600 copies.

The rest of next week's top 10 is rounded out by some of the industry's most consistent sellers. Frank Sinatra's Nothing But the Best falls two spots to #4 with 54,000 scans, while last week's #1, Death Cab for Cutie's Narrow Stairs, slips to #5, selling another 52,600 units. Leona Lewis' Spirit follows at #6 with 50,000 scans, with Mariah Carey's E=MC² right behind at #7, scanning 44,900 copies. Duffy's Rockferry sold 44,200 copies, tumbling four spots to #8, while Madonna's Hard Candy follows at #9 with 38,600 scans. Lastly, falling three spots to #10, it's Neil Diamond's Home Before Dark, which sold another 35,700 copies.

• 3 Doors Down
• Bun-B
• Daughtry
• Jesse McCartney

Daughtry And Bon Jovi Perform In Los Angeles, April 9, 2008

• Daughtry
• Bon Jovi

2008 Grammy Parties

• Ashlee Simpson
• Fall Out Boy
• Rihanna
• Paris Hilton
• Miley Cyrus

The 2008 Grammy Gift Bag And Gift Lounge

• Evanescence
• Miley Cyrus
• Daughtry
• Paula Abdul

The 2007 MTV Video Music Award Nominees

• Beyoncé
• Justin Timberlake
• Shakira
• Amy Winehouse
• Kanye West

Spankin' New Music Week Summer Soundtrack: Performances

• Daughtry
• T.I.
• Ne-Yo

The Week In Pictures For March 2, 2007

• Diddy
• Young Jeezy
• Fantasia
• Daughtry

Grammy Parties: Scarlett, Christina, Justin, Katharine And More

• Timbaland
• Nelly Furtado
• Natasha Bedingfield
• JC Chasez
• Rich Boy

The Week In Pictures For January 26, 2007

• Timbaland
• Rage Against the Machine
• Gwen Stefani
• Daughtry
• Fall Out Boy

Scorching-Hot Pics From The "Idol" Finale Red Carpet

• Taylor Hicks
• Katharine McPhee
• Daughtry
• Ace Young
• Paris Bennett