A change in chart rule puts Eagles on top of Billboard

Contrary to reports published last week, Billboard has announced this morning that the Eagles' new album Long Road Out of Eden is the number one album in the Billboard 200, beating the Britney Spears "comeback" album. The announcement comes after a change in chart rules that "will now allow exclusive album titles that are only available through one retailer to appear on The Billboard 200 and other Billboard charts." According to the report, Nielsen Soundscan places the album at number one with 711,000 copies sold, primarily at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) stores. Spears' new album Blackout is charting at number two (it would have been number one) with 290,000 copies sold.

The change is also a product of the new methods that music is beginning to be distributed through in the market, with Billboard's chart director Geoff Mayfield noting "it was inevitable that Billboard's charts would ultimately widen the parameters to reflect changes that are unfolding in music distribution." Before this, exclusive albums like the Eagles album sold exclusively by one retailer were only eligible for the Top Comprehensive Albums chart, which primarily tracks catalog releases. The change also came about because Wal-Mart chose to report the data for the high sales of the album.

It may dismay Britney fans out there that defiantly defend her, but in the end it is a nice position for the Eagles to chart with their new album. More importantly, this kind of change by Billboard indicates that as the record industry shifts and changes with regard to digital releases and limited physical release availability (the Eagles' album is not the first and won't be the last exclusive title from any store), charting practices will stay on top of the game. Of course, the most surprisingly and perhaps best news to come out of this change is just the sheer number of copies sold at Wal-Mart stores for the album. Maybe the CD still has life in it yet, but it could also point to the generational gap that exists with music listeners and buyers in today's market.