Billboard Hot 100, June 9, 2007

1. Umbrella - Rihanna (feat. Jay-Z)

Rihanna makes a 40-spot jump to #1 this week with "Umbrella," her sixth top 40 single and second #1 hit following last year's "SOS," which made a similarly big jump to #1 (34 to 1). "Umbrella" is also currently #1 in Britain, making it the second single after Timbaland's "Give it to Me' to top both country's charts this year.

2. Party Like a Rock Star - Shop Boyz

Also making a big leap is the first top 40 hit for rap group Shop Boyz, who moves up 49 spots to #2 with "Party Like a Rock Star," this week's airplay gainer.

5. Home - Daughtry
9. Never Again - Kelly Clarkson
12. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood
34. It's Not Over - Daughtry
35. Wait for You - Elliott Yamin

American Idol alums continue to do well this week, particularly Kelly Clarkson who rebounds 8 spots to #9 with "Never Again." More though on AI in a bit.

8. Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie

Fergie jumps 13 spots to #8 to land her fourth solo top 10 hit with "Big Girls Don't Cry." In doing so, she surpasses yet another statistic of her band Black Eyed Peas--her four top 10 hits now outpaces the band's three. All three of Fergie's previous top 10 hits went on to hit #1 or #2.

15. This Is My Now - Jordin Sparks
18. You Give Love a Bad Name - Blake Lewis

Somebody's got to be unhappy about this. Following the crowning last week of Jordin Sparks as the 6th American Idol (and Blake Lewis as the runner-up), both artists released their debut singles available as of Thursday morning on iTunes. Every other year, the AI finalists have been assured massive first-week sales, sending their hits up to #1 or #2. A recap of the biggest:

2002: Kelly Clarkson, A Moment Like This, #1 after its first week of sales
2003: Clay Aiken, This Is the Night, #1 debut
2003: Ruben Studdard, Flying Without Wings, #2 debut
2004: Fantasia, I Believe, #1 debut
2005: Carrie Underwood, Inside Your Heaven, #1 debut
2005: Bo Bice, Inside Your Heaven, #2 debut
2006: Taylor Hicks, Do I Make You Proud?, #1 debut

So what went wrong this year? Was it the shorter sales frame of 5 days? Perhaps, but I would think that if the demand were big enough it wouldn't make a difference. Is it that the singles aren't available as physical releases this year? Maybe, but "Umbrella" is sitting at #1 without a physical release. I think that this might be another sign of the growing American Idol backlash, the show's numbers were, afterall, down a bit this year. It will be interesting to see if Jordin Sparks can follow this up with a real hit.