The Eagles are destined to beat Britney Spears to the top of the US charts after Billboard revised its chart eligibility policy.

Spears had been expected to enter at number one on the Billboard Top-200 in America this week with her new album, Blackout.

However, the revised policy, which has been made in consultation with Nielsen SoundScan – the company who monitor sales figures – means that Billboard will now allow releases that are sold exclusively through one retailer to become chart eligible.

The new policy will become effective immediately meaning that The Eagles’ album, Long Road Out Of Eden – which is only available exclusively in the US via the retailer Wal-Mart - will top the chart’s this coming week.

Current sales figures show that The Eagles first studio album in 28 years has currently shifted 711,000 copies compared to Spears’ 290,000 in the US.

Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts said: "We know that 
some retailers will be uncomfortable with this policy, but it was inevitable that Billboard's charts would ultimately widen the parameters to reflect changes that are unfolding in music distribution.

"We would have preferred to make this decision earlier, but only became aware within the last 24 hours that Wal-Mart would be willing to share the data for this title with Nielsen SoundScan."