Daughtry Downloads Outpacing Hicks

For the second straight week, Chris Daughtry registered more downloads than this season's American Idol winner, Taylor Hicks.

Daughtry's cover of the Bon Jovi classic "Wanted Dead or Alive" (from the Idols' Encore album) registered 22,000 mp3 downloads last week, compared with 27,000 the previous week. Hicks' "Takin' It to the Streets" came in with 12,000, down from 16,000 the week before.

Taylor's single, which pairs "Takin' It to the Streets" with the ballad "Do I Make You Proud," hasn't officially gone on sale yet. It is expected to put up pretty big numbers when it does Tuesday. No figures are available for downloads of Katharine McPhee, who agreed to a record deal last week and has a single coming out as well.

The comparison between Daughtry and Hicks may not be fair, but it's an interesting one.

Simon Cowell and millions of viewers were stunned to see Daughtry finish fourth on Idol, and his early download sales reflect his popularity. If the North Carolina native can get people to buy a 20-year old song just because he sings it, imagine what will happen when he comes out with something original.

For reference, neither total is that impressive compared to the top spot -- Shakira sold 267,000 "My Hips Don't Lie" downloads last week alone.