"American Idol" may not be experiencing its best numbers ever, but its most recent winner, Season 12's Phillip Phillips, certainly is moving in that direction. As of Thursday (Feb. 21), Phillips' coronation song, "Home," climbed over the 4 million in sales mark, pulling him to within a little over a hundred thousand behind the No. 1 selling "Idol" alum single of all time, Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)."
According to Neilsen Soundscan (via Brian Mansfield at "Idol Chatter"), "Home" sold another 69,000 copies this past week, pushing it to 27,000 thousand units above the 4 million threshold. On the industry scale of things, that's quadruple platinum. And he's done it in less than nine months (the song debuted on the charts in late May 2012).
He might have been a little closer to being the top seller of all time had not the 2013 Grammy Awards given his top competitor and current "Idol" artist with the top selling song a major boost. First season winner Clarkson picked up her third Grammy (for Best Pop Album for Stronger) on Feb. 10 and saw her album and singles sales rise accordingly. The top-selling single got a 17 percent bump, moving the number of units moved for "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" to 4.138 million to date.
That is just 111,000 more than "Home."
The song already holds the distinction of being the top selling coronation song in the show's 11-season history.
Carrie Underwood, the "Idol" Season 4 winner, whose song "Blown Away" picked up a couple Grammys (Underwood won for Best Solo Country Performance and the songwriters won for Best Country Song), not to mention a big bump in her album and singles sales as well. The Oklahoma singer has the third best-selling single of all "Idol" alums. Her "Before He Cheats" saw a 16 percent increase in sales and moved up to a total of 3.711 million.
But Phillips' "Home" appears unstoppable and just might overtake Clarkson's empowering pop tune in a matter of weeks.
In fact, he might just do it before he makes his obligatory appearance as returning champ on "American Idol" this season. Now wouldn't that be a milestone to brag about on the show that insists it is the only singing competition that delivers?
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