Australia might not have taken to this year's Idol winner Natalie Gauci but the nation has given an even bigger 'thumbs down' to Idol judge Marcia Hines' latest effort 'Life'. 'Life' has struggled for an audience ever since it was released 5 weeks ago.
In physical CD sales, Natalie's 2 weeks on the chart with 'The Winner's Journey' has earned her 29,247 sales. Marcia's 'Life' has done 18,146 units over 5 weeks.Marcia's 'Life' dropped to No. 60 on the physical sales chart this week with sales of 3,620 units. Natalie's 'The Winner's Journey' surfed the Christmas sales wave moving 18,040 units, a reasonable figure but still not enough to let her into the Top 10.
Marcia Hines was a considerable star in her day. She had her first hit with a cover of James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' in 1975. It reached No. 17. Her Top 10 hits have included ''From The Inside' (1975), 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself' (1976), 'What I Did For Love' (1977), 'You' (1977), 'Something's Missing In My Life' (1979) and 'You Love Still Brings Me To My Knees' (1981).
This year's real Idol winner is Guy Sebastian who did a Lazarus with his 'The Memphis Album'. By going outside the square and working with the crack team of musicians, Steve Cropper and Donald 'Duck' Dunn, Sebastian paid homage to the great soul sounds of Stax Records and won a new audience. That paid off last week to the tune of 23,223 CDs sold (add an extra 196 units for downloads).
By comparison, Shannon Noll's career stalled in 2007 because his 'Turn It Up' album was way too safe and too much of the same thing. 'Turn It Up' is at No. 43 this week with 5,261 physical CD sales.
Last year's winner Damien Leith is hovering even lower, despite a reissue of 'Where We Land' for Christmas. 'Where We Land' landed outside the Top 50 at No. 53 on sales of 4,325.
