Billboard Introduces New Chart Policy; Lady GaGa & Rihanna To Suffer Consequences

Published: Thursday 17th Nov 2011 by David

 

When critics talk, Billboard listens.

For, in what news that will serve to change the way albums chart on the Billboard 200 forever, the company has announced it is to introduce a new policy which will make scoring #1 albums all the more difficult for artists who feel they can ‘cheat’ their way to the top.

 

All the details below…

 

Effective November 21st 2011, any albums priced below $3.49 during their month of release will be refused entry onto the Billboard 200.

In an official statement released by the company it stated:

 Free or almost-free albums don’t represent a marketplace.

Whether you work with or are a fan of Madonna or Kenny Chesney, Lady Gaga or Coldplay, it is your faith in our efforts to keep our charts credible that we work to honor every day.

Ultimately, what swayed us to make a rule change now was the fact that we wouldn’t want an album that sold for one penny to count on our charts. Our charts are meant to indicate consumer intent.

And once you accept that you don’t want to count penny albums, the only remaining question is simply where a threshold should be.

Unit sales for Albums priced below $3.49 during their first four weeks of release will not be eligible for inclusion on the Billboard album charts and will not count towards sales data presented by Nielsen SoundScan.

Allow us break this down for you:

If Artist A released a project which sold 2 million copies in its first week, of which 50% of those copies were sold for less than £3.49, Billboard and Nielsen Sound Scan would only count the sales of copies sold at full price. Completely ignoring those sold at a discount price.

Good news for those in favor of equal playing ground but bad news for the likes of Lady GaGa and Rihanna who in the past have used discounted prices to boost their chances of debuting at #1 in the US.

In May of this year, GaGa’s third album ‘Born This Way’ debuted with sales of 1,108,000 but only because 440,000 copies had been sold by Amazon for an astounding $.099.

 Had the project been released after the implementation of this new policy, it still would have been #1 week but would have sold 664,000 as opposed to 1 million copies.

The same goes for Rihanna, whose album Rated R’ was sold at the very same price  by the very same company. However- like the rest of her albums- ‘R’ tried but failed to reach #1, even with its prices slashed.

 

In conclusion, we say well done to Billboard.

For as they rightly put it, free or almost free releases do not and will never indicate real consumer intent.

 

Source.

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  1. follow me @gdboyratedloud November 17, 2011

    this has nothing to do with Rihanna b****. Gaga on the other hand…..

  2. FaithwthNoRelgn November 17, 2011

    I’m glad that they’re enforcing this new policy and remaining a credible source to check. It now means that more artists have to actually push themselves instead of relying on gimmicks. I love it!!!!!!!

  3. Bow Down to The Perrylicious… (The Queen of TGJ) November 17, 2011

    Britney, katy perry & rihanna will always slay!!!

  4. Those That Cannot Do, Stan November 17, 2011

    I actually agree with this. I know many artists do it but I believe Gaga is the most recent individual that just really made it look obscene. When I heard people saying her entire album was 99 cents on Amazon I dismissed it thinking it was a joke. When I found out it was real I was actually disappointed I’d missed it since for that price I’d have bought it. Many people I know did this not to talk of stans of hers who could buy 20 copies for just 20 bucks to help inflate her numbers.

  5. NANA YAW November 17, 2011

    shame on rihanna

  6. Bow Down to The Perrylicious… (The Queen of TGJ) November 17, 2011

    All i know Gaga only sold around 220k (without Amazon deals)
    LOL!!
    What a flop mutherfuc*er. 😀

  7. Bow Down to The Perrylicious… (The Queen of TGJ) November 17, 2011

    Rihanna will just fine!
    Currently she’s enjoying 3 songs on U.S iTunes Top 10.
    Who mad???

  8. lmao November 17, 2011

    LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Desperate h0es…trying to bribe the public to buy their wack ass albums by practically offering them for free. A drink at Starbucks is cheaper than what Gaga and Rihanna’s albums costed SMGDH

  9. Kate November 17, 2011

    Gaga will be affected.
    Even with huge promo, born this way failed to exceed over than 5M worldwide.

  10. lmao November 17, 2011

    @bow down bla bla
    SHE WILL SUFFER BECAUSE SHE IS A SINGLE’S ARTIST! Her albums NEVER do aswell as her singles
    Don’t act like you don’t know LMFAO

  11. ANDRE cHENIER November 17, 2011

    # Team Beyonce forget da rest
    Give It up for the QUEEN!!!!!!!
    BEYONCE!!!!!!!

  12. jack November 17, 2011

    Gaga did with $0.99 cents and sold for over than 1M.
    Stop lying TGJ,… BTW only sold around 200k-300k without Amazon deals.
    😛
    Gaga is fading so fast.
    It’s funny she still doing those gimmicks and people get bored on her.

  13. Linda November 17, 2011

    by the end of the day, only Britney Spears and Beyonce can sell with pretty well for the normal price. 🙂

  14. KD November 17, 2011

    Let’s not forget that not only was Gaga’s BTW sold for $0.99 but it also came bundled together with free 20GB storage on Amazon, so chances are some people were looking at getting 20GB storage more than her album.

    S/N: I am in no way trying to discredit Gaga or her success. I still think that she is extremely talented (if overly gimmicky).

  15. HashBrown November 17, 2011

    the biggest joke in history was Gaga’s album with $0.99.
    Hahahaha…
    Still cannot beat Britney’s biggest opening for female artist in history.
    Such a joke.

    I hope Rihanna album going to be well, her new album is f*****’ amazing!

  16. KD November 17, 2011

    Can we for once have a comment section that does not feature stan wars? The s*** is childish and getting very boring very quickly.

  17. Courtney November 17, 2011

    finally Billboard are catching on that artificially inflated albums don’t deserve to chart especially at #1. actually putting the promotional time in makes earning the #1 album more respectable. before October 2007 for example an album exclusive to one store wasn’t allowed to chart but they changed the rule 26th october 07 effective the next week so the Eagles Wal mart/sams club exclusive album Long Road Out Of Eden debuted at #1 on sales of 707k where had the rule not changed Britney Spears Blackout would’ve been #1

  18. AmenFashion November 17, 2011

    Bey fans STFU!
    4 is a flop! A big flop.
    Gaga did very well with BTW, you assholes STFU!

  19. 9bandedosaz November 17, 2011

    @Kate,
    Born this way has sold 7.5Mill..a WW, where do u get ur facts?? SMH!

  20. Bow Down to The Perrylicious… (The Queen of TGJ) November 17, 2011

    OMG!
    Rihanna’s Loud already sold over than 5M.
    What are you talking about?
    She will always be selling better than those basic b******.

  21. TruthTeller November 17, 2011

    LMAO

    So Billboard mentioned Gaga & Coldplay but TheHateJouice brings up rihanna???

    LMAO

    How about u worry about Beyonce, JayZ & Kanye’s Amazon deal pricing their albums at $2.99

  22. missknowitall November 17, 2011

    I think Billboard should have made the price below $5.99 because 3.49 is too low and a higher price would really tell the true tea..

  23. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) November 17, 2011

    Well, it’s always good to see Billboard so active and willing to adjust to the ever changing industry, but this policy doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.If someone wants to buy an album, they WILL buy it.The amount of people that buy albums JUST because they’re cheap is a very small fraction of the overall music audience.It’s definetely more fair this way, though, but business will always be business regardless of the Billboard charts. so even if a CD sold for 3,59 $ beats a cd that was sold for 11,99$, it will still be unfair…Anyway, it was a good move, we’ll see how it plays out.I’m sure that the labels will find a way to cheat again, though…

  24. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) November 17, 2011

    Did someone just say ‘Born This Way’ has SOLD 7,5 million??

    Why are you spreading lies??’BTW’ has SHIPPED 6,5 million, but it has SOLD about 5 million copies ww.There’s a difference between “shipped” and “sold” 😉

  25. JEFFREE AND GODNEY SLAY RIHFUND November 17, 2011

    FLOP ASS BILLBOARD WANTS TO BE CREDIBLE YET BILLBOARD KEEPS A PAYOLA #1 LIKE AT LEAST 5 OF R******’S SINGLES

    F*** BILLBOARD

  26. stopthebs November 17, 2011

    For the record, going to number with a leaked album is far from a flop. Beyonce has sold almost a million copies so haters can miss me with that “flop” bs. Find another insult, sh!t’s played out now *sips tea*
    As for Gaga and Rihanna’s fraudulent sales *chuckles*

  27. black November 17, 2011

    I f****** cant….#death

  28. Steffon November 17, 2011

    LMAO

  29. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) November 17, 2011

    Oh, btw, GaGa deserves all the shade about her Amazon deal because, even though it wasn’t her fault but a decision that Amazon made, selling an album with so many tracks for less than a dollar is shocking 😮 However, I honestly think that she should be laughed at for the many other deals she had rather than the Amazon one.Didn’t her label make a deal with a huge international manufacturing company so that their newest product (an m** device or something) would have the entire album saved in a file without the customer’s approval.Now that kind of fuckery is much worse imo…

  30. CREEPY GAGA November 17, 2011

    JACK
    November 17, 2011 at 7:35 am

    Gaga did with $0.99 cents and sold for over than 1M.
    Stop lying TGJ,… BTW only sold around 200k-300k without Amazon deals.

    Gaga is fading so fast.
    It’s funny she still doing those gimmicks and people get bored on her.
    _________________________________________________________

    I don’t know where people get these horrible math skills from…..

    1,100,000
    – 440,000
    ————–
    660,000

    Since WHEN did 660,000 = 200,000???? Please let me know since people are sooooooo “smart”

    anyways,people do remember it’s only one place that sold her album for 99 cents.IDK why people are acting like Gaga was the one who made that happen (LAWD knows if Gaga made it happen,Albums would be 99 cents across the board.)

  31. ChristinasCOMING November 17, 2011

    Yes yes and yes.

    You should get your album sales honest. You should have to work overtime. If you really have to ink a deal with a third party like Gaga did, you know you’re losing tour fanbase as well as everybody’s interest in you.

  32. I.D. November 17, 2011

    I don’t agree with this new policy. At a time when illegal downloading is at an all-time high, artist are using this as a way of encouraging people to BUY their work, at a time when times are hard financially and people have to watch every penny.

    But mark my words, it eventually WILL NOT make a difference. Because those artists will simply release their album at FULL PRICE for 30 DAYS, and lower their prices straight after that in order to boost their sales and still get their sales certifications. Trust me on this.

    The Hot 200, up until now, was a great indicator of album sales, as it relied on sales and sales alone. Not any more. It now cannot be relied upon to show the world what the biggest selling albums in the country are. And it may do damage to the already ailing record industry. Because if artists do not no what I predicted in the previous paragraph, and never sell their albums at a discounted price WHATSOEVER, then more people will resort to downloading illegally.

  33. JEFFREE AND GODNEY SLAY RIHFUND November 17, 2011

    FLOP ASS BILLBOARD ALSO NEED TO CLEAN UP THEM FRAUDULENT #1 SINGLES.R****** CAN DISCOUNTED HER FLOP SINGLES AND THEY WENT TO #1.

  34. the real November 17, 2011

    rihannas album is free at bestbuy when you buy a cell phone starting next week.

  35. 9bandedosaz November 17, 2011

    Everyone in d music industry is running outta ideas, trust me! Gaga’s fans will sell their Kidneys and Eyes just to make her get a #1 Album; BEY’S fans have given up on Her; Rihanna has proven to b a Singles Act! Billboard ask me for some new ideas!

  36. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    The discounted albums sold on Amazon during their black friday special didn’t even amount to 10% of Rihanna’s Rated R debut week sales total. So, she still would’ve come in third or fourth place during her debut sales week, regardless.

    Yeah, Gaga would’ve still been #1, but she wouldn’t have achieved the holy grail of benchmarks for first week sales in the US (1M sold). I still only view T-Swizzle and Wayne as the most recent, contemporary artists to have achieved that feat.

  37. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    “rihannas album is free at bestbuy when you buy a cell phone starting next week.”

    So what. If what you’re saying is true, then it wouldn’t BB 200 wouldn’t count it. So . . . NEXT

  38. Judas666 November 17, 2011

    $3.49 is waaay too f****** cheap. I can see tons of artists now discounting to $3.49 just to stay cool with Billboard. I think $5.99 or higher is the better price cut off!

  39. ChristinasCOMING November 17, 2011

    @ ASAP

    I remember her manager saying something like that as a marketing tool for her next album. He also said that he would try to install her new album into all new unpurchased laptops and computers so that people who bought one would have her new album too. For example if I were to buy a new laptop or computer, her new album would be installed on there and it would account as a sale without me actually having to pay for the music itself.

  40. muse November 17, 2011

    they need to do something about how these singles chart too

  41. FACTS ARE MY WEAPON November 17, 2011

    IF BILLBORAD ARE GOING TO CLEAN UP ALBUMS THEY NEED TO DO THAT FOR SINGLES AS WELL MANY PEOPLE USING TACTICS TO GAIN NUMBER 1 SINGLES EXAMPLE RIHANNA USING BRITNEY TO GET S N M TO NUMBER 1
    OR KATY PERRY USING MISSY ELLIOT TO GET LAST FRIDAY NIGHT TO NUMBER 1 FOR JUST ONE WEEK AND PAYOLA IS STILL BIENG PRACTICED WITH HOW SOME FOLKS MANAGE TO GET SO MANY NUMBER 1 EG KATY PERRY

  42. muse November 17, 2011

    they need to do something about how these singles chart too :i

  43. Matthew Charlery-Smith November 17, 2011

    They should also not count remixed singles as being from an album. If the song is not on the album in “that” format/version then it shouldn’t be seen as an album song.

  44. Courtney November 17, 2011

    nothing stays the same in this world other than death and taxes. billboard has been publishing charts for nearly 70 years they know what their doing. Rules evolve with the times as everything else does

  45. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    @Facts are my weapon

    The only tactic that Bilboard is beefing with is deep price cuts. I don’t recall Ri and Britney selling S&M remix at a discount. They just did a remix, and slashing the price of a single from 1.29 to 69 cents (as in the case of LFN’s remix with Missy) is not the same as discounting an album with a normal price point of over $10 USD, to a dollar.

  46. kimberly November 17, 2011

    I prayed everyday for that billboard and it should be in effect the same day gaga’s album was sold for .99 cents trying to come for mj and britney sales. I am so happy that these artist are exposed, it’s a shame to know that your artist got their numbers through cheating.
    I am continuously praying so that billboard would change their singles charting strategy. they need to investigate payola. It is unfair for artist would worked hard to earn their #1’s like mariah without the social media and now others have the help of it, especially the fact that fans gift over 50 songs and use payola. I am still praying maybe when mariah record is broken they will check it out but for now it is fraudulent.
    Meanwhile best buy is giving free rihanna cd’s don’t be surprise if they add these into the count. fraud

  47. Salem November 17, 2011

    This will hurt Mariah too.

  48. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    They should also not count remixed singles as being from an album. If the song is not on the album in “that” format/version then it shouldn’t be seen as an album song.
    ______________________________________________________________

    @Matthew

    Well, which album would that be? In Cee-Lo’s case, he, like most artists with explicit content, had a clean/edited version of his album on sale with the explicit version. Both versions of “F*** You” were “on albums of his” and both versions of the single (clean/explicit) were offered for sale, and sales from both versions were counted by Billboard.

  49. Lax November 17, 2011

    @Facts or my weapon,,,,LOL You or holding your breath and praying that they can stop RIHANNAS Single sales keep holding your breat and Praying for Rihanna s down fall while RIH Keep making hast out of the haters and mopping the dam dirty floor with their hating butts,,,LOL
    pS rihanna is in the top achievenment of having a album be in the top 40 for over 90 weeks and hummmmm that Album is still BLESSING RIHANNA Since its top ten in 12 Countries Choke on that Loosers?

  50. FACTS ARE MY WEAPON November 17, 2011

    @ mariah but still im not saying that rihanna hasnt earnt her number ones but i the case of katy perry slashing the price to 69 cents and then getting a remix that ony lasted a week on billboard is cheating full stop and i firmly believe payola is still in practice after reading some recent articles i do believe they should clean up singles chart aswell its way to easy for artists to get number one these days at this rate rihanna will have 20 number ones by the time its her 7th album and to me thats dodgy

  51. Lax November 17, 2011

    Haters or mad because they know that RIH’S Collab or out of sight with great sales, they or now saying that she would not have gone to a #1 spot unless some other Artis helpd her, So dam what, Rihanna & Eminems singls haqs been Certified Platium 15x,,,,Haters choke on that.
    Rihanna is one of the only Artist who has AMASSES 7 Songs on the the DIGITAL DOWNLOAD To sell over 3Million each and counting, Now aint that something,,,Haters.

  52. FACTS ARE MY WEAPON November 17, 2011

    @ lax shutup rihanna will continue to have number ones for aslong as she releases music so how do u propose i could stop her from getting number one singles ?

  53. ChristinasCOMING November 17, 2011

    @ facts are my weapon

    Remember how they slashed the price of Only Girl to 99 cents to push it to #1? And after that was successful oh coincidentally Rihanna breaks a new record with being the first artist ever to have the first single hit #1 after the 2nd single hits #1.

    Only Girl initially stalled and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100 but because her label was desperate for another #1 they slashed its itunes price. It happened to S&M but then they stuck Britney on it and it went straight to #1.

    At the end of the day imo its the album sales that reflect and artists’ longevity in the industry, not digital copies of songs.

  54. ChristinasCOMING November 17, 2011

    Oh and then I remember when Born this Way so conveniently was released and became billboards 1000th #1 and Britney was a strong contender for that crown. They purposely did that

  55. Lax November 17, 2011

    Hummmmmm Thank goodness RIH and her team has not slashed
    the price on her “We Found Love’ Single since it has moved over a Million units and still counting, Why Moving a very Impressive 441,000
    last week is Awesome and her “LOUD” Moved 32,000 Copies in her
    50 week not to Shabby for a Super Star Who the Nay Sayers SAYS
    can’t sell Albums, Shes selling Albums & Singles,,,,,Gag on that!

  56. FACTS ARE MY WEAPON November 17, 2011

    @ christina is coming u r right im not saying that rihanna doesnt deserve her number ones i mean songs like love the way u lie disturbia to name but a few deserved to be number 1 im just saying certain artists are so pressed for number ones they use tactics to get them now then the song just falls of after a week i mean katy perry matched micheal jacksons record

  57. Lax November 17, 2011

    All Labels or desperate that is why they or in the Business
    they all long for their Artist to get a Hit and they can change
    the Rules all they want to and Rihanna is not going to be
    the only one Affected, Watch? All of them sales their Music @ a
    Reduced price thats how the game is played. The Air Brains or jumping with joy because if they think for a minute that something is Designed to
    Lower or Hurt Rihannas Brand then they or always at the ready to carry
    the hate of Rihanna on to the next Level of hates Different day but always the same old tired SOS.

  58. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    @Christina is coming

    S&M was top 3 on Hot 100 for weeks! It would’ve gone to #1 without the remix, but Katy had two versions (the album version/ the radio version with Kanye) of E.T. charting in the top ten. So, Rihanna did the same thing, and low and behold, it worked!

    And can we get some math literacy here, people? I simply cannot with these inaccurate, cornball analogies!

    In what world is a 33% discount on a single, (Only Girl $.99) the same as 90% or greater discount on an album? Even with Katy’s LFN remix discount, the remix sold at a little over half price on itunes. Billboard’s new ceiling of 3.49 per album is still way more than what BTW was selling for during that amazon promo.

  59. brool November 17, 2011

    WHO CARES ABOUT THEIR STUPID POLICY PEOPLE WILL STILL NOT BUY CDS THEN WILL CONTINUE DOWNLOADING THEM ILLEGAL

  60. YEP YEP November 17, 2011

    the new policy seems fair to me ..

  61. Joe November 17, 2011

    Now if only they would change how a song enters the Hot 100. Radio play should count more than digitial sales on Itunes. Radio play should be 75% and digital sales 25%. I’m sick of how anybody can release a song iTunes for a week and they end of with a Top 10 or Top 5 hit on billboard. That s*** is stupid and it needs to be changed….

  62. X,Y,”and Z” November 17, 2011

    @TGJ staff, and Camp-Fenty —

    “However, all sales generated by Rihanna’s ‘Rated R‘ (including those sold at discount) would still be counted as the lowest available price for that album was $3.99, 50 cents over the newly introduced threshold.”

    WRONG! WRONG!! WRRRRRRRRONG….!!! *buzzer sound/flashing lights*

    “Rated R” had “promotional” sales of/for $0.99 for ONE WHOLE WEEK!!! Here, read for yourselves: http://www.islanddefjam.com/artist/news_single.aspx?nid=5770&artistID=7366

    ..And TGJ even wrote about it: thatgrapejuice(dotnet)/2009/11/rihannas-rated-r-slashed-099/

    X,Y,”and Z” — OUT..!!

  63. DUNKFAN November 17, 2011

    Who cares about having a #1 on the Billboard charts, What’s more important is how many fans have a physical copy. Gaga and Rihanna continue doing what you do, the more people who have your album the better.

  64. ChristinasCOMING November 17, 2011

    @Mari

    That’s why they stuck Britney on S&M because it stalled in the top 3 and they needed that quick tactic to get it to #1. Talk about cheap gimmick

  65. DUNKFAN November 17, 2011

    then sell the damn album for 4.99 lol what’s the damn problem, Billboard really needs to rethink the value of a m** album, something that you cant touch, doesn’t have lyrics or photos shouldn’t cost 10.00

  66. Sheesh November 17, 2011

    I always knew GAGA was a flop….im glad even Billboard recognizes it, she would never have sold a million like that, if it was sold for regular price.

  67. honeydip November 17, 2011

    FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @HONEY_DIP11 I FOLLOW BACK!

  68. Sage November 17, 2011

    The whole Amazon thing with Gaga was not organised by her. It was all by Amazon. Stop lying. I love how every year since 2008 people have been saying “Oh Gaga is fading so fast”, “Gaga’s 15 minutes are almost up”, “Gaga’s just a flash in the pan”. Either give her a cut off date or shut up because you are all getting boring saying the same thing over and over again. 4 years on and she’s still here, selling albums, selling out stadiums and winning awards… seriously. You’re delusional.

  69. Secret Voice November 17, 2011

    LMAO! I guess Billboard finally caught on especially when it comes to Rih-Ho because she is especially guilty of selling cd’s at low prices and then the bytch still can’t achieve #!!

    Bravo to Billboard…..

  70. YOOSONDALOOSE November 17, 2011

    GOOD! About time, this is so right, now it is about the good music!

  71. Tc23 November 17, 2011

    Wait a min rihanna sold rated r for 3.99 and it STILL didn’t debut at number one HAHAHA the rhitards really have the nerve to come at bey in ANY way …. #icant

  72. Robier November 17, 2011

    GEEEEET THEEEEEEM LOL

  73. Lax November 17, 2011

    @Fact Or My Weapon,,,,,Make Me Shut up,,,
    In other Breaking Hot Newwwwwwws
    RIHANNA Has Just Reached the 47Million Likes
    Yes RIHANNA Has reached the 47Million Likes on
    Facebook, More than any other Person In the World, Now
    Whos the Most Popular???????? 47,040,106 Likes On Facebook!!!!!!

  74. lola November 17, 2011

    I am not satisfied with this! They should have made it $5.00 oh and… THEY F****** NEED TO CHANGE THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 TOO! We have the damn iTunes chart….. why the hell are they allowing the downloads for the singles to be included when charting the single on the Billboard Hot 100? That makes no sense whatsoever. It should strictly be based on airplay! If it was based on airplay, Rihanna, Britney, and Gaga wouldn’t even crack the Top 20 most of the time!

  75. Mari (RIP Dwayne McDuffie + Amy Winehouse +Steve Jobs) November 17, 2011

    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Um, no, sweetie. WFL is #3 on BB radio songs chart this week, and since when doesn’t Rihanna dominate at radio? All of her #1’s had crazy high airplay.

    Haters, try harder.

  76. Paige November 17, 2011

    Aside from the amazon sales Gaga would have had almost 700k sold. Where are some of you getting 200k from ? The katy perry and rihanna fans wish their fav could still 700k first week. No your favs are stuck with a lousy 200 k every album. Also aside from gaga’s sales what about the S&M remix , T.G.I.F. remix and all the other cheat their way to the top songs. Katy Perry wouldn’t have had micheal jackson’s record without. They can have a million records but it won’t invent them any real talent. They are both horrible non talented trash.

  77. MISHKA November 17, 2011

    <b

    Kudos to Billboard!!!

    Lady Gaga almost killed their credibility.

    Now they need to CSI Lil'Wayne and Drake 1st week sales…I call BS on those numbers too.

  78. Lax November 17, 2011

    According to Billboards Latest tatical and 0.99 cent Sales
    As of the Week of November 26, 2011
    Rihanna is #1 In FIVE (5) Different Places
    1 Hot 1oo #1
    2 Hot Digital #1
    3 Dance/club
    4 The Official UK Single
    5 Germany #1
    Three In The Top Five On Itune
    Still Top Ten In 22 Countries
    PS
    Ans since many or working overtime trying to make her a Singles Artist she have her album GGGB Is Persently in the top ten in 12 countries and sitting @ #1 In Germany!!!!

  79. Lax November 17, 2011

    Yeaah KUDOS to billboard, we will just have to work
    harder and smarter,,,,lol

  80. RDK November 17, 2011

    this is so great no more cheating your way to the top,it,s so disgusting,for someone to beat out another person who is selling there albums for full price because so and so is selling there album for 3$-99c,utter bull sh!t i say.

  81. CREEPY GAGA November 17, 2011

    SAGE
    November 17, 2011 at 10:59 am

    The whole Amazon thing with Gaga was not organised by her. It was all by Amazon. Stop lying. I love how every year since 2008 people have been saying “Oh Gaga is fading so fast”, “Gaga’s 15 minutes are almost up”, “Gaga’s just a flash in the pan”. Either give her a cut off date or shut up because you are all getting boring saying the same thing over and over again. 4 years on and she’s still here, selling albums, selling out stadiums and winning awards… seriously. You’re delusional.
    _______________________________________________________________

    EXACTLY!!!!!!

  82. aisha aguilera keys November 17, 2011

    Aww, Sam, are u mad that even w/o the help of Amazon, Gaga would have sold more in the first week release than any B album will? Sniff.

  83. aisha aguilera keys November 17, 2011

    Or better yet- a few yrs ago the industry was abuzz because B had won 80 something million and was second on Forbes. Gaga just won 90 million and was first last yr. In less than five yrs she did what it took B a decade to do. THAT’LL comfort you!

  84. A Nu Day Has Come November 17, 2011

    About f****** time, now the real talent of these lames are exposed, billboard needs to start recognizing real talent, for over 10 years this fuckery has been allowed to run rapidly, without consequences, Thank you Jesus, time for the music to improve, the days for of fake ass poser music is coming to and end! People are getting tried of this auto tune bull shitshit

  85. Lady Caca is a crazy, deranged liar and delusional egomaniac November 17, 2011

    Lady Caca is soooooooo tacky and cheap.

    Her and Interscope are so f*cking embarrassing.

    I’m glad Billboard punched Lady Caca with this article. Lady Caca likes to preach about fairness, but all the smart people of the world can see right through her gigantic fakeness. Lady Caca cheats and lies 24/7 to get ahead. She is incredibly lame to the maximum. A complete joke and farce, a real clown she is! I could never relate to Lady Caca and her monstrous self + monstrous, ugly, repetitive music. Lady Caca is a disgusting opportunist.

    Remember when Lady Caca and her team also cheated in late 2008? By using Christina Aguilera’s name in PAID ADVERTISEMENTS to become popular?

    Lady Caca will never have my respect. She is a big piece of pure gigantic horse sh*t. And that’s the bottom line.

    Almost all of Lady Caca’s fans are ignorant little zombie teenagers with extremely horrible taste.

    Period, point blank.

  86. Vegas girl November 17, 2011

    Billboard already lost credibility a while ago ( way before Gaga and other artists that sold a full album for 99 cents) and there are still plenty if ways that labels can cheat for achievements!

    Radio airplay is a joke and EASILY manipulated by labels. They essentially tell station who, what and how often to play artists. If you are delusional enough to still think that airplay is based off requests only, I feel for you.

    We as the public will NEVER know ALL the tactics labels will use for the appearance of popularity and success. I’ve heard and seen Groupon deals for albums, tickets,etc., its about making the public believe that the artists are massively popular. That will always influence sales, I think every artist does it (some more successfully than others) but I still believe it’s a bunch of b******* and lies, buying certifications, striking deals to have your music featured on the radio, selling your cd as part of some bundle package….it’s disgusting!

  87. rozel November 17, 2011

    Everyone loves a sale, so wth are you guys getting so worked up about someone deciding to sell their product cheap. Its up to them if they want to sell low. If you walked into JC penny and Saks fifth avenue and they were selling your favorite pair of jeans or shoes cheap would you be upset? Some of you people are so annoying. Getting mad at someone just because they want to sell their own cd cheap. Whats it to ya.

  88. Theman November 17, 2011

    Gaga has a huge following she was gonna do great with ot without that lil Amazon deal.

  89. Angie November 17, 2011

    Thank u sam for bringing up rihannna’s faulty sales also. Everyone is going on and on about gaga sales while we have other shading artists doing the same. Remixing songs for a unmemorable No. 1 Katy perry and Rhianna! T.G.I.F and S& M. Everyone knows most of Rhianna no.1 s come from collaborations and her fake Grammy awards. Call me when Rihanna has a No. 1 album and finds some talent. Also tell me when Katy Perry makes a non arrested development song.

  90. rozel November 17, 2011

    @ angie rihanna already had a #1 album on the world charts with Loud being #1 in the world for weeks. So what other #1 should she call you for since world >>>> than anywhere else. Plus Rihanna deserved every bit of her grammys there was nothing fraudulent about them. Funny you bring up rihanna’s faulty sales when she sold GGGB at full price with not a problem and that album is still selling like hot cakes to this day. So IDK what the hell you guys are griping about. RIhanna’s solo #1’s are rudeboy, disturbia, take a bow, sos, we found love and there’s no doubt she will have a bunch more #1’s on her talk that talk album which has NO features besides Jay Z, so she is very capable of getting #1’s on her own which she has proven before.

  91. ASAP (As Sincere As Possible) November 17, 2011

    @JOE WTF??Actual sales is the only fair way to judge a song’s success, because labels can pay to get their songs playlisted.And why are you sick of it??People release songs, people buy them, they debut in the chart.There’s nothing more natural than that in the entire industry, man.Just chill

  92. Sheltop November 17, 2011

    I agree with this.

  93. ~BirthdayCake~ November 17, 2011

    Now that’s what i’m talking about!Make these people WORK for their success!!!

  94. antertain November 17, 2011

    Bout time 2!!!

  95. Aisha Pressed November 17, 2011

    Aisha U mad U have to take QUEEN GAGA to copete with The KINg LMAOO take your Faves OH WAit Beyonc kicked them outa THE BUISNESS

    HOELICIA GOT BURST out that why she was scared to release the Video Put it in a BEyonce take over song !

    and Christina Got Punshed out
    By Britney
    Then Beyonce
    Then Gaga

    Bionic is still waiting to sell more then 200k how saaaaaad

  96. John-Paul November 17, 2011

    This is the best news I’ve read all day….. This will show Gaga that it takes more than gimmicks and discounted prices to sell records.

  97. Lurker November 17, 2011

    I think $3.49 makes sense. 5.99 or 6.99 would exclude most if not all EPs….

  98. Paris&London November 17, 2011

    I don’t even know why Beyoncé is still compared to all of these b****** as good or bad as they are ! Ain’t nobody better that be and nobody has been since like 10 years !

  99. Small_Angel November 17, 2011

    Ok gudluck..
    Gaga and Rihanna im buying their singles.
    Christina and beyonce, Im buying there cd’s.
    Im buying every single of katy perry ang later decided to buy the cd.
    I don’t think this policy is fair enough, after letting gaga charted with 0.99, now they are trying to change it again?
    Im enjoying all the music that surrounds me.

  100. GrapeJuice November 17, 2011

    GaGa is a phenomenon for now just like Justin Bieber if you ask me ! They are big NOW but let’s see in 5 years where they’ll be !

  101. scars November 17, 2011

    poor gaga never will have a number one album again

  102. IT’S ALL GOOD!!! November 17, 2011

    This honestly doesn’t affect Rihanna!

  103. DTG November 17, 2011

    Damn…the chances of Rihanna scoring a #1 album just got even smaller! 😛

  104. Nate November 17, 2011

    SAM, Billboard didnt even mention Rihanna so why did you, are you threatened by her? Is that the reason you lied yesturday a made a post claiming that PARTY was number 1 on the R&B charts when it isnt? And I guess you dont remember when B-Day was slashed and sold the same way huh, dont remember that cause I guess she would neva or neva have to huh? Why you running around lying about chart positions? When you gonna correct that post you made less than 24 hrs ago SAM? Like were waiting, cause see thats what you owe people who come to your site and give you hits which puts money in YOUR pockets, like what are you doing by lying like that pretty much saying F us right in our faces cause your gonna put out what you want to, truth or not. Well, this is not a fan site, this is a blog site that is suppose to give the most accurate info that they possibly can. You need to stop worring about Rihanna & get ya mind right cause you lying about PARTY being number 1 is a straight up disgrace. Sucks to be your punk AS@ right now hun, keep it up Sam, gone head and TALK THAT TALK! YOU ARE MAD AS HELL THIS ERA ARENT YOU PUSS?

  105. Natasha November 18, 2011

    In that case other artists that has their albums gone to #1 easily won’t be so fortunate next time… and the ones that don’t continues to have consistent in their album sells should also worry. I can name a few and I’m sure ya’ll can too. And for God sake cut Rihanna some slack…at least shes consistent in her albums sells and her numbers only goes up Not down.

  106. nicegirl November 18, 2011

    Good rule!! But this won’t really affect the charts.

  107. mobwife November 18, 2011

    YES! This is wonderful news! I’m still amazed that Gaga got away with a Best Buy 2 for 1 deal and 2 days of Amazon .com $0.99 1st week sells gimmicks! smdh
    Maybe we can get back to some level of normalcy in the industry.

  108. Teacher November 18, 2011

    Angie
    November 17, 2011 at 1:41 pm
    Thank u sam for bringing up rihannna’s faulty sales also. Everyone is going on and on about gaga sales while we have other shading artists doing the same. Remixing songs for a unmemorable No. 1 Katy perry and Rhianna! T.G.I.F and S& M. Everyone knows most of Rhianna no.1 s come from collaborations and her fake Grammy awards. Call me when Rihanna has a No. 1 album and finds some talent. Also tell me when Katy Perry makes a non arrested development song
    ___________________________

    B**** Bye! Out of her 11 #1s she’s been the featured artist on 2 (Live UR Life and LTWYL) all the others are w/ her as the lead artist…so AGAIN B**** Bye!!!!

  109. kyle November 18, 2011

    Your jealousy wont stop Rihanna raining on dem fake singing h***!! She unstoppable and nothing grapevine do gon do about it. Rihanna is a Global success, not just local. itunes worldwide = RIHANNA. Go figure!!

  110. kyle November 18, 2011

    Nothing y’all losers wishing for not gon change a thing coz Rihanna success is Worldwide!!! what planet are you dumbazzes from?? Rihanna is unstoppable right now and no hating is gon stop her rise. Bey time is gone. the world had moved on. different tastes!!

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