Clay Beats Ruben Once Again Thursday August 21, 2003 @ 04:00 PM By: ChartAttack.com Staff Clay Aiken Ruben Studdard’s first-place finish on the second round of American Idol back in May was a lukewarm victory at best. It certainly wasn’t a clean sweep for Rube, as there was a low margin of votes separating Studdard and AI runner-up Clay Aiken. Of course, immediately after Ruben was crowned, the conspiracy theories began to fly. Claymates the world over declared that Mr. Aiken was the rightful winner; the votes had to be tallied improperly! The judges engineered the show so that Ruben would be victorious! Ryan Seacrest’s number-bungling was all part of an elaborate cover-up scheme! The recount that Aiken-adorers lobbied for never materialized, but the whole thing was a bit of a letdown for the velvet teddybear. Things only went from bad to worse for Studdard when Clay Aiken graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine before Ruben, with his bleached-blonde locks flat-ironed to perfection and his WWJD bracelet brandished for all to see. Of course, Ruben got the RS cover spot the following month, but the point had been made. Now, it seems that Studdard’s face is going to be rubbed in his unsatisfactory win again, as the AI runner-up releases his debut album before Rube. Clay Aiken’s record, which is yet to be titled, is scheduled for an October 14 release on RCA Records. Ruben’s record, on the other hand, will be hitting stores on November 11. Titled Soulful, the album features the talents of Fat Joe, R. Kelly, and more – but will that be enough to propel Rube ahead of Clay? Well, if the single sales are any indication of things to come, then lets just say that Ruben’s disappointing run as American Idol ain’t over yet. He may have earned first place on the show, but when it comes down to sales numbers, Studdard seems to be taking over the role of runner-up, just as all those Aiken fans hoped for. In the first week of release, Clay’s single "This Is The Night" flew to a #1 spot on the American Billboard charts and sold almost 400,000 units. Ruben was relegated to #2 again, with his single "Flying Without Wings" selling 286,000 copies. Only time will tell who will win the sales race this time around. In the meantime, note to Ruben: if you want to promote yourself so that your album comes out on top for once, doing a duet with American Junior Chauncey Matthews is not the answer. Now let us never speak of that again. —Megan O’Toole posted by Yee 12:29 AM . . .
