Backstage Pass

Sorry Britney Spears, that No. 1 crown isn’t yours after all.
    Though Spears seemed all set to claim her fifth No. 1 album yesterday, as her “Blackout” album sold 290,000 copies last week, a last-minute rules change by Billboard magazine now gives the title to The Eagles and their double album “Long Road Out of Eden.”
    Until this week’s charts, albums that were only available at a single retailer (The Eagles album is only sold through Wal-Mart) were ineligible for Billboard’s top album charts. However, The Eagles sold 711,000 copies of “Long Road Out of Eden” last week – the second-best opening sales week of the year behind Kanye West’s 960,000 sales of “Graduation” in September – and Billboard believed it was necessary to make the change.
    “We know that some retailers will be uncomfortable with this policy, but it was inevitable that Billboard’s charts would ultimately widen the parameters to reflect changes that are unfolding in music distribution,” Geoff Mayfield, Billboard’s director of charts, said on the trade magazine’s website. “We would have preferred to make this decision earlier, but only became aware within the last 24 hours that Wal-Mart would be willing to share the data for this title with Nielsen SoundScan.”
    The Eagles album will also top the magazine’s country charts, pushing past Carrie Underwood’s “Carnival Ride” album. The rule change will likely result in a handful of other albums making their first chart appearances this week.

PHOTO: Eaglesband.com