"American Idol" does something good

I was just reading Entertainment Weekly online and was struck by a headline that read "Alan Jackson, late Jeff Buckley top the charts." Er ..... what?

So I started to put two-and-two together and figured that by some miraculous stroke, Leonard Cohen's recent induction in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame spiked sales of Buckley's "Hallelujah" -- a classic Cohen cover. Nope.

Well, then he must have released another posthumous album of B-sides and rarities, leading a group of fanatics to ... nope.

EW reports that "Hallelujah" entered the digital songs chart at a shocking No. 1, selling 178,000 downloads for the week, just ahead of the 175,000 from Usher's "Love in This Club." The song is also storming the iTunes charts, and according to an Apple spokesperson, had one of the biggest overnight pops in the history of the site, unlike anything they've seen since "The Sopranos" resurrected Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for its final scene.

The reason? "Idol" heartthrob Jason Castro performed a rendition of "Hallelujah" on the show.

Now, I don't know Jason Castro from Fidel Castro, but man if Buckley's version isn't one of my all-time favorite songs. This is a good thing, right? Should I take back every bad thing I've ever said about the show?

(Also, how has James Franco not been cast as Buckley in a movie? Paul Dano has to be cast as Elliott Smith in a future biopic, too. C'mon, Hollywood!)

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com