Hundreds of male contestants have walked across the American Idol stage in the past 11 years (Yahoo!’s Idol guru Lyndsey Parker could probably rattle off an exact count), but only one has gone on to record a 3-million-seller. That’s Phillip Phillips, whose “Home” tops the 3 million mark in digital sales this week. Just three female Idol contestants (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks) have landed 3-million-sellers. They’ve each done it just once. Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” has sold 3,970,000 copies. Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” has sold 3,633,000. “No Air” by Sparks & Chris Brown has sold 3,491,000.

The old sales record for a male Idol contestant was held by a different song, also titled “Home,” by Chris Daughtry’s band Daughtry, which has sold 2,325,000 copies. The old record by a male Idol contestant who remained a solo artist was held by David Archuleta’s “Crush,” which is up to 2,087,000.

“Home” is the 17th song to top the 3 million mark in digital sales in 2012. That extends this year’s record pace—and there’s still one chart week to go in 2012. (The previous record for most 3-million-sellers in a calendar year was set in 2011, when there were 14.)

Ke$ha’s “Die Young” dips from #3 to #4 on the Hot 100, in part because some radio stations dropped the song or pulled it out of heavy rotation following Friday’s horrific elementary school shootings in Newtown, Conn. Billboard’s Gary Trust reports that airplay on the song dropped by 19% this week, the greatest percentage decline of any song in the top 40 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart.

The song peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 three weeks ago, and was starting to recede, but this accelerated the process. The exuberant record has nothing to do with young people dying, but seeks to motivate people to live life to the fullest. Key lyric: “Let’s make the most of the night like we’re gonna die young.” It’s just the wrong words and the wrong tone for right now.

Michael Buble is sure to have a merry Christmas. His 2011 album, Christmas, will top the 3 million mark in U.S. sales within the next two weeks. (Current sales tally: 2,749,000.) It will be the first Christmas album to go over the 3 million mark since Josh Groban's 2007 smash Noel. Buble's album is expected to rebound to #3 on this week's Billboard 200, pulling ahead of this year's top holiday album, Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas, Baby.

Buble's album is being boosted by an hour-long TV special which NBC has already aired twice this month and plans to air again on Dec. 21.

Even in an era of digital song downloads, Christmas music remains an album-oriented genre. Twenty-three holiday albums have sold 2 million or more copies in the Nielsen SoundScan era. By contrast, just one holiday song, Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," has sold 2 million digital copies.