Your Turn

I spent most of my Friday night discussing this with a group of six or seven people. What was supposed to be just a quick go around the table thing turned into a huge debate. The trick here is you can only have 3. The top 3 all time American Idol contestants.

Now, if you just blurt out names thinking record sales you probably will come up with Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and then pause on a third. You then might say Adam Lambert or Chris Daughtry. But, wait. Isn't an Oscar win better than what Adam or Chris have accomplished? Where does Jennifer Hudson fit into this equation? 90% of Daughtry's sales were from his first two records, the most recent of which was released almost a decade ago. If you went by that measure, then Clay Aiken should be near the top. Adam Lambert, who is previously mentioned actually is in 13th place in American Idol record sales, but that Queen gig pushes him higher. If that is the case, then do you need to look at someone like Kellie Pickler. She is actually in 8th place in record sales. She has multiple songwriting awards for multiple songs and, if not for a brand new on the scene Taylor Swift, would likely have won multiple awards in categories where her only competition was Taylor. Kellie won Dancing With The Stars, had her own reality show and is now a talk show host.

What about Katharine McPhee? Not in the top 20 in sales, but starred on a middling network show and now has been on a hit network show for multiple years. She stars on Broadway and is willing to have sex with a guy who could be her grandfather.

So, who are your top 3 American Idol contestants?