I don’t blame Virgin or the ‘lil ma and pa for buyin’ up all of Walmart’s copies of the disc, that’s the American way. Such a great idea to get around Walmart’s evil Monopolistic empire.

Well, if only ‘old’ people listen to ‘old people’s’ music, I feel sorry for young Britney fans who limit themselves to one small niche of music. Open your ears kiddies - there’s a whole world of wonderful music out there and the Eagles are just a small part of it…Here’s an idea - start expanding your horizons by buying the new CD!
PS - Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art has a great temporary exhibit of Rock & Roll and Art from the 60’s until today. A little ‘old’ people music education for you people younger than 14;-)

I don’t shop at WalMart, so I ordered LROOE off of the Eagles web site (www.eaglesmusic.com), which was fulfilled by musictoday.com. I did, however, see it at Virgin Megastore in San Francisco.

Even if Billboard DID change the rule to screw Britney over,I could care less.Well Done,Billboard.At any rate,no matter who sold what,the Eagles outsold that talentlesss skank,and deserve to be at the top.As far as I’m concerned,Britney Spears should just be banned from the chart completely because her CD doesn’t qualify as music.

Billboard WANTED to change the rule anyway, but COULDN’t until WalMart agreed to release the figures. Simply because Garth Brooks was not reported on the charts in 2005 doesn’t imply this injustice should go on forever. the business has changed, and all charts should reflect that.

To give you an impression: Amazon Germany has the Eagles at no. 2 ever since release date (just behind a new release by a German band), whereas Britney Spears dropped from 36 to 52 to 92 now. Does that give some people a hint on where the real sales figures lie?

So maybe some outlets bought cheap at walMart and sell at a higher price for their profit (maybe Wally’s gonna sue them), but does anybody really believe that would make up for 400,000 copies? If somebody really and honestly does, sue your math teacher.

The Eagles Rock! “Eden” is fantastic. Possibly the best Eagles ever. I am 50 and downloaded to my computer - I did not buy the CD. But I did burn a CD. I listen to it over and over when I’m on the computer. My six year old grandson says it is old people music. Joe Walsh is still playing the guitar like nobody’s business.

i love how to THIS DAY…no one really addresses the fact that record stores are buying their new releases from Wal-Mart and reselling it because they can’t get it any cheaper. who cares what’s #1 when the playing field looks like a warzone.
Idiots.

i love how to THIS DAY…no one really addresses the fact that record stores are buying their new releases from Wal-Mart and reselling it because they can’t get it any cheaper. who cares what’s #1 when the playing field looks like a warzone.
Idiots.

Even ’cause Britney Spears doesn’t have any vocal skills nor is a singer, ain’t it?

AREN´T YOU UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE ARTICLE IS ABOUT?
THIS ARTICLE IS NOT COMPARING THE VOCALS SKILLS OF EAGLES VS BRITNEY.
IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT SOMETHING FIRST READ THE ARTICLE AND THEM MAKE A CONSTRUCTIVE POINT OF VIEW ABOUT THE REAL TOPIC HERE.

What’s a CD? With the music biz the way it is, you have to get creative.

The Eagles have the top selling album of all time. Think about that. More that Thriller.

The Eagles write their music, play every instrument, sing without alterations, and have real talent.

Lip Synker, light weight Rappers, and all the other bubble-gum BS must bow before The Eagles. Bow, kiss their feet and taste talent for the first time.

oh that’s why it sold 701, 000 copies

britney album should be #1

LA and NYC have Wal-Marts, just not within city limits. Same deal in MPLS, and, I imagine, most major U.S. cities. You make it sound as though LA and NYC are the only places that (justifiably)avoid shopping at those crummy Wal-marts, while everyone else in the U.S. is more than happy to spend money there everyday. Sorry for the rant, just tired of subtle jabs that big media keeps taking.

I am not even a Britney Spears fan but come on!! They never would have had the balls to this to another artist…Carrie? Kanya? I don’t think so!

Obviously the good old boys have an issue with Britney. Funny how they did not think this was important when Garth Brooks sold like 500,000 copies in one day.

Oh and I guess the fact that sales were probably counted twice should be a concern…

Shame on you Billboard

the cds are goint to dissapear and they are going to become a piece for a museum, i mean how many people listen to their music in ipods or mp3
even my grandma has her own mp3 she is 75 by the way.The illegal and legal music’s digital download rules.
Blackout was #1 for a whole week in itunes.Eagles is from other generation, many people say the are a legend , but let me see is any song of them in the top 50 hot 100 no , but santan is there he is a truly legend not eagles.

billboard lose Credibility

Radioactive: “I know nothing about previous “exclusive” deals. […] Did previous ones really sell 300,000+ copies in a single week?”

WalMart claims “Garth Brooks: The Limited Series” sold 500K copies through pre-orders and one day sales back in November 2005. In an article dated 12.12.05 on mp3.com, WalMart said the album had sold a million copies since its release date (11.23.05). Since it was an exclusive release and sales figures weren’t reported to SoundScan, the album doesn’t appear on any of Billboard’s charts.

Final comment

Legal paid downloads represent just over 10% of the music sold Between Jan 1 and September 2007 (Source: Billboard Oct6,By Ed Christman)so dear Mary your statement “The digital downloads rules the world now and forever!” is just plain wrong (at least the now part, I know not of “forever”)

Wow there are a ton of people who don’t understand the Music Biz, or Amazon or computers…

Amazon does not carry the new Eagles, but Amazon Resellers (aka people who sell things online through Amazon) have some people smart enough to buy CDS from Wal Mart and sell them on Amazon for profit using Amazon’s search engine. It’s like saying E-bay must be owned by Wal Mart if I sold my unopened Eagles CD on E-bay.

Billboard has lost all credibility, if Carrie UnderWood would have sold her album in the same week that eagles will billboard would have change his policy at the very last minute? I don´t think so.For me Wal-Mart make a trade with Billboard that´s the only explanation for me.
Besides the Eagles are old people, who cares about their music!
The digital downloads rules the world now and forever!

Is there a cash prize or something that comes with being listed #1?

What exactly did Britney lose or the Eagles gain?

Billboard’s purpose is to report sales, and they did.

I know nothing about previous “exclusive” deals. Are there really that many? Did previous ones really sell 300,000+ copies in a single week? Or, is this the first time an “exclusive” deal is also so widely available?

ChiChi: “[Billboard] should have changed it to where digital saled counted also!”

Alex: “But nooooo Digital Sales are not counted!!! Counted on the chart!”

Sales from various digital retailers are included in Billboard’s charts.

Matt: “Billboard doesn;t (sic) count downloaded albums from Itunes, Napster, Rhapsody, etc (Need confirmation on Napster/Rhapsody).”

All the digital retailers you listed report to SoundScan.

ChiChi: “Only old people, who listen to old people, shop and sell CDs at Wal-Mart!”

WalMart is the largest music retailer in the US.

So many people here have complained about Billboard’s last minute rule change, arguing about some conspiracy. Has anyone bothered to consider that Billboard is reacting to the results and decided that it simply didn’t make sense to have an artist who outsold another by a more than 2-1 margin not listed as the top seller of the week? And did anyone consider that the late rule change was likely triggered by the fact that originally Walmart was not going to release how much they sold of the Eagles record, since it was an exclusive and that therefore did not obligate them? The fact that Walmart released the sales records likely came about from Eagles’ management asking that it get publicized because it would generate good publicity for the band (Walmart was saying that sales had exceeded projections by more than 50%)? If you know that 700K people bought an album of a band or genre you like, you may be more inclined to try it out if it sold only, say 50K copies.

There is no conspiracy here. Second week sales for Britney will drop considerably - she doesn’t have good word of mouth on the album, and she continues to have personal issues that distract her from promoting the album properly.

As for the digital sales argument, a lot of you are assuming Britney has outsold the Eagles on that front with no evidence. As much as you generalize that “young people” typically purchase album downloads, I can just as easily “argue” that they do so illegally. Show me the actual numbers and then you can convince me, but don’t assume.

The new Eagles album is amazing, by the way. If you like harmonies, there’s a lot of that here. And there is so much variety on this set, that listening to both discs back to back are definitely no bore. I haven’t heard the new Britney, so I can’t really pass judgement, and I do like some of her past hits.

It’s just yet another way in which the Music Industry misleads their customers! Recently, the “Across The Universe” soundtrack had a ’special edition’ sold ‘ONLY’ at Best Buy. Yet, it was also on iTunes, Amazon.com and others. To complicate matters, the label shipped far too little copies to all stores, and BOTH versions were sold out and back ordered for THREE WEEKS (when NO ONE could buy it)! All of this during the important run of the movie.

I find it interesting how the major labels whine about the current situation when for decades THEY ripped off the artist, the consumer, AND the product selling middle man (like Tower). Even with all the changes in technology (like downloads), even while they whine about slipping sales, the record industry refuses to change their devious ways and will not adjust to the world as it is.

Answer me THIS, RIAA:
With the advent and availability of music downloads, why is there still such thing as ‘out of print’ or ‘discontinued’? How does sitting in a vault collecting dust help you when licensing it for downloads costs you NO shipping, pressing, nor packaging? I thought you guys wanted to MAKE money….

If Billboard decided to change the rules to where exclusive albums count too, 11 hours before the chart came out, then they should have changed it to where digital saled counted also! Britney for sure would have dominated there! iTunes is where most younger people get thier music. Only old people, who listen to old people, shop and sell CDs at Wal-Mart!

Great points by people who ACTUALLY ARE IN THE KNOW regarding the Eagles and THE WAY THE RECORD RETAIL BUSINESS WORKS (Jungleland, et al). Everyone else: stop whining. I’m not even a big Eagles fan, but they have clearly the legitimate number one album this week. As they said in ‘94, “Get Over It”!

No, I’d like to point out something because a lot of you seem a bit brain-dead to realise… Britney fans are not pissed that The Eagles outsold her… In fact most are proud of them for that! The problem is that their sales WERE NOT going to be submitted for inclusion to the Billboard Top 200. They knew it FULL WELL and were WILLING to have an album which was an EXCLUSIVE that did not get counted! Fair enough they changed their mind… But ON THE DAY the sales figures were released? Seems a bit fishy to me and doesn’t seem AT ALL fair! They hardly gave any notice! Add to the fact that even Billboard themselves (as well as a host of other official places) were saying how “Blackout” would be number 1…
THAT is why the fans are pissed, not because The Eagles beat her fair and square… Because they did, but she didn’t get the number 1 spot because they suddenly decided they wanted a piece of the action (even though prior they’d been aware that they wouldn’t be included)…
And as someone else pointed out… Do you think if the roles were reversed and Britney had sold over 700,000 for an “exclusive” they’d have changed the rules to get her no. 1? I think not! Case in point, Garth Brookes!
Do you get it now!?

Remember that the Wal Mart deal doesn’t affect import copies. There aren’t Wal Marts to speak of in countries that are selling the albums on other labels. The Eagles have always been a big seller and if you own a record store, you’d either get the import copies or do what a lot of other stores are doing with buying the album at Wal Mart for 11.88(cheap for 2 cds)and sell it at a higher price.

sorry, no scandal here

Imports are legal and legit sales. Reselling records happens with small stores (I used to own one)but very few of these stores are set up with soundscan. This record was VERY available as illegal download, and not as legal, so that hurt their sales as much as helped.

Sorry, there are not 400,000 i-tunes users downloading the Brittney record in full the day it came out, and if they just got the single you would need 10x (10 singles = 1 album) or 4,000,000 copies of “gimme more”….it just did not happen.

The Eagles did this right. $11.88 for a 2 disc set. CD featured at the store near the registers, VH1 classics has been playing the videos for a month, the reviews are good…

I’ve always suspected that there was a better way for the Established artist, and The Eagles, McCartney, Prince, Radiohead have all found ways outside of the system.

Yeah, I have to agree with the last poster. It is actually kind of mind-boggling that these people would stand up for another lame, lame Britney record, when the Eagles have released, basically without a label, one of their best records and one of the best records of the year… so many great ballads, and vocal performances, gorgeous harmonies…. and 20 SONGS to boot, for only $11.88. I bought mine online from walmart.com (had some trepidation about buying from WalMart, but if Henley is down with this, I can be too). Yes, this is a victory for live people playing their instruments and songwriters everywhere… and for people over the age of 18 who still hold out some hope of having a successful music career. Not only did the Eagles sell more than THREE TIMES as many copies, but their youngest member is TWICE as old as Britney, revealing as ridiculous the age-ism that plagues the business today, which is one of the reasons for the overall downturn in sales, not just illegal downloads… if you make records for “old” people (read: older than 14!), they will buy them…

also is amazon owned by walmart? cuz i just found the eagles cd avail. there…i thought the deal was only limited to walmart stores and only the walmart site? also billboard has the eagles @#1 on their top internet albums chart and britney @#8, i believe…that can’t be right. i haven’t seen the eagles in any topsellers list for any online retailer, blackout is the main one at the top of the list…i really hope rolling stone will do some type of investigation or even zomba recording company…cuz this beyond unfair, this was a deliberate attempt to make sure britney didn’t have the #1 spot…and rules are rules, if she was the top seller, she should be at the top spot, not the eagles.

Business as usual in the Good Old Boys Club.(pun intended)

I can’t believe that this type of thing is allowed to happen. From the rule change last minute to this, the whole thing is a farce. Britney Spears should be given the #1 spot. Shame on Billboard, Soundscan and the rest of the cowboys involved in this scandal.

You can’t possibly claim that the Eagles trampled Britney’s sales when Billboard doesn;t count downloaded albums from Itunes, Napster, Rhapsody, etc (Need confirmation on Napster/Rhapsody). Britney Spears fans are younger, and downloading has become the favored method of album purchase for the younger generation, whereas Eagles fans are older and typically do not download.

That simple fact, coupled with the double sales, would no doubt show Britney Spears either much closer or ahead of the Eagles. The whole chart system for both album sales and television (thanks to tivo/dvr) ratings are obsolete and worthless.

i understand them for wanting to give every artist the opportunity to chart on the billboard 200. but the way they went about it lacked the standard the a big corporation should have and was just informal. They should have put a little more thought into this policy change. If anything they should have made this change effective in ‘08 (come on now its only right around the corner). now the year end charts are going to be all fucked up. given the whole scenario of this situation it does seem like a conspiracy. Who changes the rules while the game is being played? I don’t think the eagles even really gave a crap if they didn’t chart because they weren’t expecting too anyways! So really even if Britney Spears was #1 it wouldn’t have mattered for the eagles because they weren’t participating in game anyways. Its not only unfair to her , its unfair to many other artist who had exclsive deals in ‘07.

Okay hold your horses now. Okay Yes the Eagles did sell more than Brit in Pysical sales! Not in digital! Where is itunes! over 24 million americans have itunes and im guessing that quite a bit of them bout Blackout. But nooooo Digital Sales are not counted!!! Counted on the chart! Right now there might be a 400,000 gap but itunes can more then fix that with more than likely brit Dominating!

The big story here is being FAIR!!!!! You cant just switch your mind hours before u need time. Something that should be done at the begging of the year with everyone knowing!!! This is an obvious jab at Britney! Thats all it is. The Eagles knew when they signed with Wal-Mart they would not be able to Top the BB 200, only the Coprehensive Chart! So thats pathetic to switch when there was already a chart for that! All it is, is bieng Fair!!! And its a damn shame if you dont see that.

I smell conspiracy! Since when does exclusive mean everyone can sell it. The eagles gave up the right to be one the charts by making a contractual agreement with Wal Mart. Billboard was very unprofessional for making this change within 24 hours. A decision like this needs to be made and not take effect until a later date at the very least a week or two. It seems very biased and that these charts and the system can just be changed at a whim to satisfy anyones desires at any given moment. Obviously an investigation needs to be conducted and people need to realize a contract is a contract and rules are made for a reason. No matter the amount of records ’sold’ if the by have an ‘exclusive’ album through one retailer was not eligible for the charts it is not eligible for the charts. The eagles knew this when the went into contract with walmart. Why did Billboard and Walmart not discuss that walmart would be willing to give the ’sales figures’ for the album weeks ago they knew the album was comming out. This would have gave enough time to make the Billboard rule change and not cause a huge controversy. What’s that old saying again - Rules are made for a reason. When did it change to rules can be changed for any given reason just because we want to? Billboard you need to fix your mistake immediately and learn from your mistake and get your crap together. If a change is going to occur pick a date for that rule to become effective!

Yeah something is not right here. I don’t want to take anything away from the Eagles but if the deal was that wal-mart chains would only sale the album than why is virgin megastore selling it? If the director of the charts at billboard new this was happening and still decided to chage the policy than that’s wrong. A change like this should had been annoced the week before not the night before. Something is not right here. Very disappointed with Billboard.

what billboard did was very unproffesional no matter who the artist is
this was just unprofessional
and disrespectful towards artist and thier record companies
billboard just lost thier credability
britney deserves number 1

yeah, but let’s turn the tables a bit…let’s say billboard kept saying that the eagles were getting the #1 spot, but on the day before they update their charts for the next week, billboard SUDDENLY has a ‘revision’ takes away the #1 spot from the eagles, and gives it to someone else. to an artist that made an ‘exclusive’ deal with ONE retailer…a retailer that doesn’t sell all genres of music and has banned several artists and albums from their stores…now is that fair?

Why are the britney fans complaining. The Eagles crushed her sales. Wouldn’t it be more inappropriate for britney to be recognized as #1 when the Eagles sold over twice as many albums? Why do you want her to have a bogus number 1 album???

Billboard has been keeping their policy UNTIL Right the last minutes before they declare chart position. Does it not trigger any questions in your mind? This is so unprofessional of Billboard directors. Why did they change the policy now and not last year or next week? Are they afraid that the tabloids will stab back at them for declaring Britney Spears is number one again although she sold 290,000 records compared to the Eagle? Now, everyone (maybe not everyone but the ones who really THINK before they act and who are DARING, not easily SCARED) thinks that they are one of those losers who care so much about what the tabloids say and just want to secure their chair at their so-called Billboard company. I personally would never think they can do such a thing like that just over a night. Now, they officially disgustingly paint black ink on not only their face, the whole Billboard’s staff face, but also the entire Billboard company, their magazines and all their other merchandise. They will soon see people turning their back at them, “Billboard”.

i just left 2 comments on the billboard blogging page…and to ‘revise’ their policy so last minute, is very unfair…i don’t care who that artist or band is, to do it the night before after publicly announcing they have the #1 spot and then to suddenly change it, is really sad actually. also i didn’t recall reading in the britney #1 billboard article last week about these massive sales the eagles were getting…every online retailer, on their topsellers list, i haven’t seen the eagles at all…billboard has lost me as a long time follower and fan of their charts and organization…i thought they were completely unbiased and did not judge that artist on any personal woes, but on their music…i def. agree, britney should be the #1 spot…and they should’ve announced this ‘revision’ sooner…not the night before.

I completely agree with Jake
you can’t announce a winner and then take away their gold, its ridiculous what the industry has become.

I think it was very unprofessional of Billboard to change their policy at the last moment anyway. Britney deserved #1 according to the format of their charts. To change it after both Britney and the Eagle’s albums were released is unfair. Billboard even has a poll on their site asking the public if they think the new policy was unfair and if Britney deserved the #1 spot, which means they are second guessing their own decision. 86% of people agree that it was wrong. If they were to consider this and change it back, it would look completely unfair and biased against her.

Well, this doesn’t surprise me a bit. I actually work at a “ma an pa” store that went ahead and bought some of wal-mart’s to sell here, and sell we have. To hell with Wal-Mart and their “exclusives”. Nothing is exsclusive.

Whatever retailers Walmart may have “sold” EAGLES “EDEN” for “resale” - let there be no doubt about the 711,000-plus discs already sold in inventory through the retail chain. It’s quite possible, WALMART sold that many copies [alone] because going into a Walmart store any day of the week, you encounter a “stirred-up ant bed” of massive crowds shopping there. I stopped at a location on my way home last “Eagles Tuesday Week” and there was a small crowd numbering well over twenty people around the “EDEN” display at the very front of that store - and a great place to mercahndise it, too! I grabbed mine, headed for the checkout, and held my breath for a week to see how sales went, if a report was issued. People are hungering for REAL MUSIC instead of this crappy Top 40 garbage that’s been lingering on the radio & charts for now going on 15 years. The EAGLES have provided an amazing album that’s been a decade and a half in the making, with old and new fans waiting-waiting-waiting and, the music is superb, as always! You have to hand it to BILLBOARD MAGAZINE with their decision to include Cd sales from non Sound Scan retailers such as Walmart, Starbucks, etc. because if the music business is truly falling apart & declining in sales, they need to inspire the music buying public to herd themselves over to these stores and purchase product they want. Even better - CHEERS to The EAGLES for kicking talentless Britney’s ass! EAGLEmania is back! The EAGLES ROCK!!!