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American Idol 5

Taylor Hicks’ album has third-best debut among American Idol winners

Taylor Hicks, the debut album by none other than American Idol 5 winner Taylor Hicks, sold 298,000 copies in its first week of release, Variety reports.

That makes Hicks’ debut the second best of any Idol winner, although he “barely edged the debut of Kelly Clarkson, whose ‘Thankful’ moved 297,000 copies when it was released in April 2003,” according to Variety.

The best debut belongs to Ruben Studdard, “who sold 417,000 copies of his debut when it was released in December 2003.” He’s followed by Carrie Underwood, whose album sold 315,000 copies when it was released in November of 2005. In third is Hicks, fourth is Clarkson, and fifth place is Fantasia, whose album sold 133,000 copies its first week, Variety reports.

Of course, those are numbers for people who’ve won the show. As has been noted before, Clay Aiken’s album sold 613,000 copies its first week.