Christmas week does wonders for Idol sales

Scotty McCreery sold 85,000 copies of his Clear as Day album last week, taking total sales of the album past the 800,000 mark. According to Nielsen SoundScan, that's Scotty's best sales week since the second week of his album's release.

All the other American Idol acts on The Billboard 200 -- Daughtry, Kelly Clarkson, Lauren Alaina, James Durbin and Mandisa -- also scored double-digit percentage gains in their weekly album sales. But don't get too optimistic: With the holiday shopping season done, most album sales are about to plummet like a rock.

Idol albums

Scotty McCreery, Clear as Day (85,000, +28%, 833,000) (#11 Billboard 200)
Daughtry, Break the Spell (58,000, +49%, 299,000) (#21 BB200)
Kelly Clarkson, Stronger (41,000, +50%, 426,000) (#39 BB200)
Lauren Alaina, Wildflower (18,000, +39%, 214,000) (#90 BB200)
James Durbin, Memories of a Beautiful Disaster (13,000, +31%, 70,000) (#129 BB200)
Mandisa, What If We Were Real (11,000, +30%, 134,000) (#155 BB200)
Daughtry, Daughtry (3,000, +65%)

Idol-related albums

Various, Now That's What I Call Music 40 (88,000, +38%, 509,000) (#10 Billboard 200)
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party (75,000, +44%, 2.238 million) (#14 BB200)
Tony Bennett, Duets II (54,000, +37%, 704,000) (#24 BB200)
Various WOW Hits 2012 (27,000, +13%, 184,000) (#60 BB200)
Various, Now That's What I Call Music 39 (25,000, +44%, 533,000)! (#63 BB 200)
Brad Paisley, This Is Country Music (21,000, +43%, 607,000) (#80 BB200)
Various, Now That's What I Call Christmas 4 (18,000, -23%, 387,000) (#93 BB200)
Various, Essential Now That's What I Call Christmas (15,000, -21%, 460,000) (#109 BB200)
Various, WOW Christmas (2011) (13,000, -16%, 105,000) (#124 BB200)
Various, Now That's What I Call Country, Vol. 4 (12,000, +46%, 238,000) (#132 BB200)
The Civil Wars, Barton Hollow (12,000, +51%, 237,000) (#144 BB200)
David Guetta, Nothing but the Beat (11,000, +115%, 168,000) (#146 BB200)
Big Time Rush, BTR (11,000 +38%, 648,000) (#150 BB200)

FYI, because of the holidays, I don't know how much download information I'll see today. I know a lot of you are anxious to see track-sales data this week, especially with new Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken tracks debuting. If I get those numbers, I'll post them as quickly as I can, but I'm not sure I'll have them.