Britney Spears set to top charts in Eagles potential absence

Britney Spears is set to top the Billboard 200 and Top Comprehensive albums this week, despite potentially higher sales by the Eagles first album in 27 years: Long Road Out of Eden. Sales of Britney's Blackout sat at 124,000 copies yesterday according to Billboard and the album is expected to sale about 200,000 - 250,000 more before the end of the charting week. In 2003, Britney's In the Zone album sold over 600,000 copies in its debut week, which means with the projected figures, her album sales are still not as high as hoped. Unfortunately, that is a trend common for all album releases since 2003.

On the other side, the Eagles new album, which is being sold exclusively in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) stores and on the band's official website, is reported to potentially outsell Blackout if Wal-Mart decides to report the sales. Even if Wal-Mart were to decide to report sales, the Eagles new album would only be eligible for the Top Comprehensive Albums chart. Billboard notes "titles that are not generally available at retail are not eligible to appear on The Billboard 200, but are entitled to chart on Billboard's Top Comprehensive Albums, which includes catalog titles and proprietary albums from retailers willing to report those sales."

It's a shame that the first new album in 27 years by the Eagles will potentially not become a "number one," but at the same time it is not surprising to read that the band is enjoying heavy sales of their album. In 1994, their live album Hell Freezes Over topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks. At the same time, you cannot blame the band for choosing to make an exclusive deal with Wal-Mart, especially given the chain's status as number one music retailer, and the history the company has with exclusive and limited album releases.