photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagicBillboard has released its ranking of the top 100 “American Idol” singles of all time, based on Hot 100 airplay, and unsurprisingly, orignal Idol Kelly Clarkson is still the hottest of all, nearly 11 years after her Season 1 win. Kelly’s music in fact accounts for literally half of the list's top 20, with 10 charting singles, four of which made the top five. Take that, Clive Davis!
However, there is one Idol who managed to break Kelly’s top-five hot streak. No, not Carrie Underwood, as you might expect, but Jordin Sparks, whose 2008 hit “No Air (a duet with a wholesome, pre-Rihanna, pre-scandal Chris Brown) came in at number three.
photo: Christopher Polk/Getty ImagesWow, it’s no wonder why “Idol’s” powers-that-be want a female contestant to win so badly this year. Out of Billboard’s top 20, there were only six singles recorded by male contestants, and only two by male winners. Yes, several past male champs placed somewhere in Billboard’s top 100, like Ruben Studdard (peak position: #15), David Cook (#27), Kris Allen (#25), Scotty McCreery (#69), and even Taylor Hicks (#30)—although poor Lee DeWyze never did. And male runners-up like Clay Aiken (#14), Bo Bice (#41), David Archuleta (#21), Blake Lewis (#84), and Adam Lambert (#22) also made showings. But none of the boys charted the way the ladies did, and none of these guys other than Ruben and Clay, who competed literally 10 years ago, made the top 20.
Last year’s champion, Phillip Phillips, actually did quite all right for himself—his quadruple-platinum Season 11 coronation song, “Home,” came in at number six, and was in fact the only single by a male "Idol" winner to crack Billboard’s top 10. (Chris Daughtry, the fourth-place finalist of Season 5 and one of "Idol's" most successful male alums, squeaked into the top 10 with his eponymous band's "It's Not Over"; another Daughtry hit, also titled "Home," made the top 20.) But it still makes sense that the show is keen to find another Kelly, or another Carrie—or even another Jordin, who was the last girl to win “Idol” six years ago.
Below is Billboard’s "Idol" top 20 singles list; click HERE to see the magazine's entire ranking of 100. Are you surprised by which contestants made the chart—or by which ones didn’t?
1. Kelly Clarkson – “Since U Been Gone”
2. Kelly Clarkson – “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”
3. Jordin Sparks with Chris Brown – “No Air”
4. Kelly Clarkson – “Behind These Hazel Eyes”
5. Kelly Clarkson “Breakaway”
6. Phillip Phillips – “Home”
7. Kelly Clarkson “Because Of You”
8. Kelly Clarkson – “My Life Would Suck Without You”
9. Carrie Underwood – “Before He Cheats”
10. Daughtry – “It’s Not Over”
11. Kelly Clarkson – “A Moment Like This”
12. Jordin Sparks – “Tattoo”
13. Daughtry – “Home”
14. Clay Aiken – “This Is The Night”
15. Ruben Studdard – “Sorry 2004”
16. Kelly Clarkson – “Miss Independent”
17. Elliott Yamin – “Wait For You”
18. Carrie Underwood – “Inside Your Heaven”
19. Kelly Clarkson – “Already Gone”
20. Kelly Clarkson – “Walk Away”
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