Life is good even if you don't win - just ask Susan Boyle and Adam Lambert

It’s proving to be a pretty good time to be the runner-up on a televised musical competition these days.

Conversely, it’s nowhere near as beneficial being the aforementioned contests’ overall winner.

First the positive, and whether you’re a somewhat "bookish" 47-year-old Scottish singer or a flamboyant rock wannabe with a controversial public performance in your past, you’ve had a pretty good week.

Susan Boyle – the Scot who literally became an international phenomenon after performing the ‘Les Miserables’ standard, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ – has already made worldwide musical history; for the fastest-selling debut by a female artist ever! Not bad, for someone who was a complete unknown just over six months ago.

Titled "I Dreamed a Dream," Boyle’s debut release has been just that; an absolute dream for Sony Music and executives at the label are now suggesting it could end up having sold somewhere in the neighbourhood of 700,000 total copies within its first full week.

The CD currently tops the UK and Australian charts; continues to soar in sales in both the US and Canada and has similarly achieved Number One status on iTunes in France, Spain, Switzerland, Ireland and Japan.

In Britain, it’s already been confirmed as the fastest-selling debut album of all-time, beating the previous fastest-selling debut by ‘Artic Monkeys’ in its first three days, and has even outsold the rest of the Top 5 albums combined.

In addition to having the distinction of becoming the largest global CD pre-order in the history of Amazon, Boyle is also outpacing her musical contemporaries in sales in a number of genres; outselling the likes of Rhianna, Lady Gaga and 50 Cent.

Further validating her place among musical giants, the title song, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ found its way into some two million homes around the planet in just seven short days.

If you want to relive that seminal moment of Boyle’s first televised audition last April once again, check out the clip here. Believe it or not, that performance has now surpassed 32 million views!

Meantime, a vastly different sort of entertainer is also racking up big time sales these days.

Adam Lambert – whose headline-grabbing performance on ABC’s ‘American Music Awards’ prompted scores of irate viewers to express outrage to the network – appears to be reaping the riches that only a sexually-charged televised controversy can offer.

While some maintain Lambert’s controversial performance - replete with an open-mouth kiss on a male keyboardist; a simulated oral sex act, and culminated with the proverbial flipping of the bird (edited from the West Coast tape-delayed version) - has the ‘American Idol’ runner-up treading in dangerous water and risks alienating potential fans, the majority of the music-buying public couldn’t seem to care less and is quickly gobbling his CD up. Downloads and sales of his debut, ‘For Your Entertainment’ are said to have dramatically spiked just following his performance and it’s estimated that he has sold between 250,000 and 300,000 copies. The only real risk with Lambert appears to that of first appearances, and after his envelope-pushing TV episode, some worry that he now runs the risk of being dismissed as nothing more than a musical gimmick as opposed to being a legitimate performer.

In contrast, Kris Allen's debut CD has had the weakest debut of any American Idol winner thus far. The Season 8 champ’s debut sold a disappointing 80,000 copies in its first week, landing at No. 11 on the charts. I somehow doubt Allen’s people will be trying to "Lambert" him up though.

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