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.

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) has scored a major deal with legendary rock band Eagles to be one of the only two distributors (alongside the Eagles official website and sister store Sam's Club) of the band's first album in twenty-eight years, Long Road Out of Eden. Outside the store and the country, the album's promotion and distribution will be handled by Universal Music Group. The first single from the album, "How Long" is already available on Wal-Mart, Sam's Club websites, in addition to the Eagles website as part of a pre-order package for the album.

The coup for this massive release comes just as Wal-Mart opens a new digital music store without Digital Rights Management technology, with more tracks and lower prices than major competitor Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Plus store. Wal-Mart's DRM-free tracks will sell for $.94, about $.35 cheaper than the same track on iTunes Plus. The store also offers the new Universal DRM-free tracks, which became available earlier this month. The store also offers "traditional" DRM tracks cheaper than iTunes, $.88 compared to $.99.

Wal-Mart is the leading music retailer, above Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) and Apple's iTunes, and this development will surely give the company a larger lead. As EMI Group PLC and Universal musicians are already in the store with DRM-free tracks, the Eagles' album will not be the first to enjoy this store but it will certainly be the biggest. Securing Long Road to Eden's physical and digital release will give consumers little option where to buy the album, but with DRM-free tracks available those using other digital services will not be left out of the continued freezing over of hell.