By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Newly crowned "American Idol"
champion David Cook took over America's Hot 100 singles chart
on Thursday, sending a record-breaking 11 new titles into the
tally a week after he won the top-rated TV talent show.
The old mark was set by teen idol Miley Cyrus (as her
Disney Channel character Hannah Montana), who placed six new
titles on Billboard magazine's flagship pop singles chart in
November 2006.
The Beatles hold the all-time record for songs charted in a
single week, with 14, during the height of Beatlemania in 1964.
But while the Fab Four owned the top five songs that week,
Cook's best showing was a No. 3 start for his original
recording of "The Time of My Life." The first single from his
upcoming debut album sold 236,000 downloads, Billboard said.
His other entries included another new song "Dream Big" at
No. 15, and covers of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm
Looking For," at No. 22, and Collective Soul's "The World I
Know," at No. 28.
Cook, 25, who hails from Blue Springs, Missouri, is
preparing to start recording a debut album that is due for
release in the fall, according to his new label, RCA Records.
"Idol" runner-up David Archuleta, 17, who had been favored
to win the Fox network competition, landed three songs on the
chart, led by his cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" at No. 36.
Fox's "American Idol" and Beatlemania share some
characteristics, but observers who mention manufactured singing
stars in the same breath as the biggest pop band ever
inevitably invite snorts of derision.
