“In an acknowledgement that [previous] measures have fallen short of the intended goal of accurately reflecting consumer intent, [Billboard] has decided to eliminate the practice of counting albums bundled with merchandise and concert tickets on its album and song charts altogether,” Billboard magazine wrote earlier this week in explanation of a new change to its charts.
Previously, any album sold, even if it was included as part of a bundle, counted towards the tallies of sales for Billboard’s charts. Billboard amended that recently by requiring merchandise bundles to cost more than just the merchandise: in other words, don’t sell a merchandise bundle for the same price as the original item just to add an album to it and count it as a “sale”.
Now, Billboard has gotten rid of that measurement entirely. The album must be sold individually, not as part of a bundle (regardless of price) for it to be counted.
In addition, vinyl record sales will not be tallied until the item is actually shipped. In the past, pre-sales of vinyl were counted because it usually takes a long time for the records to be pressed; but no longer. This methodology may have some heavy impact on pop album sales on the Billboard charts, but only time will tell how extreme the effects will be on chart standings.
