May 28, 2008, 2:15 PM ET
Silvio Pietroluongo, N.Y.
David Cook will set a record for debut entries on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Digital Songs tomorrow as 11 titles enter the former, while 14 songs jump on the download tally. The onslaught is led by a No. 3 Hot 100 start for his original recording "The Time of My Life," (listen here) which shifts 236,000 downloads to easily take the No. 1 spot on Hot Digital Songs.
David Archuleta lands three songs on both charts, led by his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" (No. 36 Hot 100, No. 16 on Hot Digital Songs, 71,000).
Cook's takeover of the Hot 100 shatters the mark for debuts set by Miley Cyrus (as Hannah Montana) in the Nov. 11, 2006, issue, when she placed six new titles on the list. The 11 songs on the chart are the most in a week by any artist in the Nielsen Music era, which began in December 1991 when the chart converted to Nielsen BDS and Nielsen SoundScan data.
His haul also marks the most placements on the list since the Beatles charted 14 songs on the Hot 100 in the week of April 11, 1964.
The 14 tracks on Hot Digital Songs also gives Cook a record for debuts and total songs on that three-year-old chart, besting Hannah Montana's total output (8) on the Nov. 11, 2006 chart, and Bon Jovi's six debuts in the May 19, 2007, issue.
This is the first week of the 2008 season that "American Idol" downloads counted toward Billboard's charts. In cooperation with the show's producers, Apple withheld reporting iTunes sales of those songs until the week of the final episode.
Cook's debut album for 19 Recordings/RCA is due in the fall.
(from billboard.com)
