The Idol Top 40

With the current season (the eight) of American Idol underway, its time to look back to take stock of the past successes of Idols alumni as recording artists. Up until last week, 39 former Idol performers had recorded tracks that had appeared on the Billboard charts. Billboard magazine is the recording industry bible for ranking song popularity, measuring radio airplay and sales (mainly digital downloads) in the USA.

Shortly after performing “Hold Up My Heart” live on last week's Idol show, seventh season finalist Brooke White vaulted into the top 10 on Apple's iTunes chart. Although the song had no airplay points, its digital sales were sufficient to rank the single in this week's Hot 100. It ranks at No. 47, making it the highest new chart entry of the week.

This makes Brooke White is the 40th “Idol” contestant to join the chart club. She is also the fifth to make a chart appearance from season seven.

Here is a listing of the 40 Idols to appear on the Hot 100 grouped and ranked by season:

Season one: (five)

Kelly Clarkson
Justin Guarini
Tamyra Gray
R.J. Helton
Jim Verraros

Season two: (four)

Ruben Studdard
Clay Aiken
Kimberley Locke
Josh Gracin

Season three: (seven)

Fantasia
Diana DeGarmo
Jasmine Trias
LaToya London
George Huff
John Stevens
Jennifer Hudson

Season four: (four)

Carrie Underwood
Bo Bice
Constantine Maroulis
Mario Vazquez

Season five: (nine)

Taylor Hicks
Katharine McPhee
Elliot Yamin
Chris Daughtry
Paris Bennett
Kellie Pickler
Ace Young
Bucky Covington
Mandisa

Season six: (five)

Jordin Sparks
Blake Lewis
Melinda Doolittle
Phil Stacey
Chris Sligh

Season seven: (five)

David Cook
David Archuleta
Jason Castro
Brooke White
Kristy Lee Cook

Other (non-finalist)

William Hung