Britney Fails to Top the Pop Charts

In the last week, it had looked like a little bit of bright light was going to shine on Britney Spears' dark days, as her new CD Blackout was expected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

But then Wal-Mart went and ruined it for the 25-year-old pop star.

The new album from rock legends The Eagles, Long Road Out of Eden, was not expected to be included in the Billboard listings because it is currently only available at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores, and until this week CDs sold at exclusive retail chains were not included in the Billboard listings. Well, it's bad news for Brit-Brit that this policy was changed in the last few days, because the Eagles album has moved over 700,000 copies, more than double Britney's 290,000 units.

Had this policy not been altered at the last-minute, Blackout would have been Britney's fifth consecutive album to open at the top spot, and that would have been a record for a female artist.

Of course, when you look at the pop star's past triumphs, Blackout is dwarfed by comparison. 2000's Oops!...I Did It Again pushed 1.3 million units, the highest first week sales for a female artist, while 2001's Britney sold 746,000 copies, and 2003's In the Zone bowed with 609,000.