Told You So: Catalog Sales To Be Included in Billboard 200

Maybe DSOTM can land back on the charts now.

Update: The official word from Billboard.biz.

In essence, the Billboard 200 will reflect the Nielsen SoundScan sales data that has populated the Top Comprehensive Albums chart, which has appeared in the magazine periodically this year and has resided in the billboard.biz chart menu the past three years. Replacing the Top Comprehensive Albums chart online will be Top Current Albums, which will utilize the current/catalog criteria that has fueled the Billboard 200 in recent years. That rule, in place since 1991, stipulates that an album that ranks below No. 100 on the chart, is more than 18 months old, and does not have a current charting single at radio, would be removed from the Billboard 200 and other corresponding album charts on which it has appeared. While the catalog rule will no longer apply to the Billboard 200, it will remain in effect on all other current-based album charts.

"The events of 2009 and the continuing creativity in the repackaging of catalog titles have led us to the conclude that the Billboard 200 would be best served presenting the true best-sellers in the country, without any catalog-related rules or stipulations, to our readers, the media and music fans," says Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts. "The ability of consumers to impulsively purchase new or catalog titles electronically has changed music sales behavior. There is a more immediate cause and effect between artist exposure and album sales in this day and age, and the Billboard 200 should reflect this activity, regardless of an album's release date."

Interesting that the catalog rule has been in place since 1991, the year the charts started using SoundScan data.