Will Phillip Phillips save American Idol?

While recent Idol winners have tended to fizzle, the Dave Matthews manqué scored a record-breaking chart debut for his coronation song "Home"

"American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips' "Home" is the most downloaded coronation song in the show's history.
(Image credit: Michael Becker / FOX )

For the first time in years, American Idol has a hit on its hands. Newly-crowned winner Phillip Phillips' first single "Home" (listen to it below) scored a huge debut this week, surging to No. 2 on Billboard's Digital Songs chart and putting up the second-best digital sales week ever for an Idol contestant, behind only Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You." On the Hot 100, which measures sales and radio play, "Home" debuts at No. 10, the first time an Idol winner's coronation song has cracked the Top 10 since 2008. As rival talent competitions multiply, Idol's ratings were down almost a third from last year, while the mediocre sales and flash-in-the-pan popularity of recent winners have left critics wondering whether the show is still relevant. Is Phillips proving that Idol can still produce stars?

The numbers speak for themselves: Phillips' sales aren't just impressive when compared to those of past, largely unsuccessful winners, says American Idol Net. "Home" is the most downloaded coronation song in Idol history, beating the record set by David Cook's "Time of My Life" in 2008. He even beat the sales for inaugural winner Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This," though that was actually a CD single, predating digital sales. Even outside the Idol realm, Phillips is a bonafide breakout. "Home" has the fourth highest debut sales of the year, behind songs by Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, and Katy Perry. Not bad company.

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