Free Republic

We're guessing even Simon is speechless right about now. Five months after finishing runner up to Ruben Studdard on American Idol by just 1 percent, Clay Aiken has shown himself the biggest Idol of all where it counts--on the charts. Making A.I. sales history, the nerdy North Carolinian's Measure of a Man sold a whopping 613,000 copies last week, according to SoundScan numbers released Wednesday. No other Idol has sold even half that amount in a week. Last April, inaugural champ Kelly Clarkson (news) sold 297,000 of her debut disc, Thankful, to top the charts and Aiken spoiler Studdard sold...

''American Idol'' winner Ruben Studdard filed a lawsuit last week against 205 Flava, makers of the jerseys he made famous during the competition, arguing that the company has profited from his image without compensating him. But the company says it secretly paid Studdard to wear the shirts, emblazoned with the area code of his native Birmingham, in possible violation of his contract with the ''Idol'' producers, which forbade him from seeking outside endorsements. The firm's owners and lawyers held a press conference on Monday, where they displayed several checks made out to the singer's brother, Kevin Studdard, or his manager,...

And then there were nine. The hot-ticket American Idol tour will be minus little-bit country, little-bit pop singer Joshua Gracin, it was announced Friday. Gracin was pulled from the lineup by his Uncle Sam, a harsh taskmaster also known as the U.S. Marines. The 22-year-old, a lance corporal with the 1st Force Service Support Group, was "unable to complete his required training in the allotted time," Major Curtis L. Hill said a statement. When the Idol tour was announced in May, word was the Marines had signed off on allowing its poster boy to return to active singing duty. "We...