As we get closer to the debuts of American Idol 7 on Jan. 15, my apologies for not posting this past week. But I’ve got a great excuse: I had no power.

No, I didn’t forget to pay the electric bill. The plains states were hit hard by an ice storm that rendered millions of us without electricity. Six days and nights with nothin’ but flashlights and sub-freezing temperatures.

I don’t recommend it as a lifestyle choice.

However, among the things I did as soon as the lights (and heat) came back on was check out the Billboard end-of-year charts to see where our Idols finished for 2007. What I discovered is that while Chris Daughtry outperformed all other Idols, his band actually outperformed everyone. Period.

His CD, “Daughtry,” finished the year as the No. 1 album of 2007.

Carrie Underwood was a strong finisher, placing two albums in the end-of-year Top 200 list, and Kelly Clarkson did better than what you might have expected.

Our boy Elliott ended the year with a Top 50 single, and these end-of-year charts proved once and for all that Fantasia is still a player in the music business even though she has been off doing Broadway for a bit.

Here’s a sample of what I found on the end-of-year charts:

Hot 100 singles for 2007:

No. 6 - “Before He Cheats” - Carrie Underwood

No. 17 - “It’s Not Over” - Daughtry

No. 25 - “Home” - Daughtry

No. 41 - “Wait For You” - Elliott Yamin

No. 70 - “Never Again” - Kelly Clarkson

Hot 100 female artists for 2007:

No. 3 - Carrie Underwood

Hot 100 duo/groups for 2007:

No. 1 - Daughtry

Hot 100 songwriters for 2007:

No. 7 - Chris Daughtry

Top digital album artists for 2007:

No. 2 - Daughtry

No. 9 - Carrie Underwood

Hot 100 overall artists for 2007:

No. 6 - Daughtry

No. 7 - Carrie Underwood

No. 44 - Elliott Yamin

No. 50 - Kelly Clarkson

No. 90 - Fantasia

And who was at No. 91 on this list? Hannah Montana. This is to give you a bit of perspective as to Fantasia’s 2007 Billboard ranking.

Top 200 albums for 2007:

No. 1 - “Daughtry” by Daughtry

No. 6 - “Some Hearts” by Carrie Underwood

No. 56 - “Carnival Ride” by Carrie Underwood

No. 66 - “My December” by Kelly Clarkson

No. 74 - “Taylor Hicks” by Taylor Hicks

No. 95 - “Small Town Girl” by Kellie Pickler

No. 105 - “Fantasia” by Fantasia

No. 114 - “Elliott Yamin” by Elliott Yamin

No. 159 - “Katherine McPhee” by Katherine McPhee

No. 187 - “Bucky Covington” by Bucky Covington