ANALYZING THE FORGOTTEN WGs OF IDOL IN EPOCH 3

So, as we've already established in Epoch 3, we've had a ton of WGWGs win. But what about the remaining WGs that were cast by the wayside? It might be constructive to see what brought the eliminations of these WGs, to see if there could be "strategic" casting of WGs in the future. Since this first occurred in Epoch 3, we'll analyze the ones found in Epoch 3. We'll only focus on the ones who got eliminated outside of the top five, because if they're in the top five, clearly the audience favors them.

PROGNOSTICATING IDOL'S FUTURE, BASED ON CURRENT TRENDS, PART II

Continuing the series from Part I, we now focus on how the competition (both internationally and other domestic singing competitions) have affected Idol. Hint: it's not good.

PROGNOSTICATING IDOL'S FUTURE, BASED ON CURRENT TRENDS, PART I

So, as we've effortlessly established here, Idol is a downward slope. Their declining ratings allowed their competitors to smell blood and spawn more singing (karaoke?) competitions, both of which started in 2011 (ahem, X Factor USA and The Voice). But for Part I of this article, we'll only focus on how Idol is shooting themselves in the foot in affecting its future. In part II, we'll focus on how Idol's competitors might screw up Idol's contestant pool and contestant success in future years.

EPOCH 4 (MORE WGWGS): THE CONCEPT OF "PIGGYBACKING" AND WHY IT MATTERS POST-IDOL

So as mentioned, Epoch 3 was a trainwreck: WGWG infestation led to massive flops, and Idol went zig with soft, coffeehouse rock while the world went zag with electropop and hip hop. There couldn't have been a greater clash in styles ever since the Jackie Chan met Chris Tucker in Rush Hour. So what did Epoch 4 have in store for us?

Well, let's just say Idol didn't learn its lesson (if you can already tell from the title above). Take a look after the jump:

EPOCH 3 (THE WGWG ERA): THE CONCEPT OF "PIGGYBACKING" AND WHY IT MATTERS POST-IDOL

This deals with 2008-2010, or AI7-AI9, and when Idol allowed its instruments and unleashed KrisAllenty LeeDeWyzeDavid Cook, er I mean, Kristy Lee Cook, on us, we got our WGWG era--the WGWGs started happening. And it's continuing to this day.

We'll see, er, what caused Idol's harm in the mainstream, below the jump:

EPOCH 2 (IDOL'S GOLDEN YEARS): THE CONCEPT OF "PIGGYBACKING" AND WHY IT MATTERS POST-IDOL

Continuing on to 2005-2007, or AI4-AI6, when Idol unleashed its rockers and had their contestants pull their weight (we won't be hearing that after this).

This is a continuation of my last article, the first epoch.

EPOCH 1 (AND SO IT BEGINS): THE CONCEPT OF "PIGGYBACKING" AND WHY IT MATTERS POST-IDOL

The concept of this post derives heavily from my other post where I questioned Idol's relevance in the music industry by drawing out treasure troves of data on its more successful contestants. I already brought up the concept of "piggybacking"--or basically leeching off of an artist who's having success at that time--in that particular post. It's the key here--as you'll see, why did Idol have successes in Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Chris Daughtry? The way to get one foot in the door is to piggyback.

My goal is to list the top 10 best selling albums and singles of each year that Idol ran on, and highlight the ones that are similar (or somewhat similar) to Idol's more successful contestants.

And really, the goal is this:

Here we'll focus on Epoch 1, which is generally known as seasons AI1-AI3, or 2002 to 2004, when Idol was finding its footing, didn't have rockers, encouraged diva belters, etc. We'll take a look at how those contestants did in the real world, and what sold back then:

IDOLMETRICS: THE FINAL BATTLE: JESSICA VS PHILLIP.

Now, let's focus on the two remaining contestants duking it out to become the winner. Ladies first, so Jessica:

IDOLMETRICS: AI11 CONTESTANTS, #3-13: HOW THEY FARED STATISTICALLY

In a continuation from the last Idolmetrics post, this shows the how the contestants gained the score they did.

IDOL SONGS DONE ON TOUR (AKA HAVE THEY CLEARED THESE SONGS FOR THE SHOW?)

Didn't know where to put this, but I think an interesting theme would be:

Decade done by Past Idol Contestants On Tour
Separate it to:
1960s and before
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s and beyond

IDOL: AVOIDING SONGS 1990s AND BEYOND LIKE THE PLAGUE

EDITOR'S NOTE: NEWEST ARTICLE FOR TODAY. COMPARING IDOL'S SONGS IN 11 SEASONS WITH THE SONGS DONE ON THE SING OFF, THE VOICE, AND THE X FACTOR US. I'M LOOKING FOR HOW MANY SONGS '90s AND BEYOND THAT THESE SHOWS HAVE DONE, COMPARED TO IDOL.

I'll also keep this for posterity, because it's an interesting topic: Songs done on The Voice in two seasons that never been done on Idol for 11 seasons. And there's a ton of them--I think one of those random websites said that the Voice has a pretty high current song rating, and we know how Idol's fossils goes. And given that both are in the US, one would think if it's done on the Voice, it should be on Idol, because there aren't any real clearance issues, right? I'm also going to include the audition songs, and put an asterisk on the ones that weren't done on the finals, but were done elsewhere.

IDOL'S CLEARED SONG LIST

Possible theme weeks: (6 or more songs cleared for an artist)
IN RED HAVE BEEN USED FOR THEME NIGHTS ALREADY

The Rolling Stones (115)
Sam Cooke (86)
Frank Sinatra (77)
The Beatles (75)
Elvis Presley (70)
Nickelback (59)

EXTENSIVE LISTING OF THE TOP 24 IN AMERICAN IDOL 11, WITH VIDEOS AND SONG LISTING

THE TOP 24 OF AMERICAN IDOL