With the goal of properly restructuring the way music sales are counted, Billboard has officially announced the implementation of new rules to their album and song charts including Billboard 200 and Hot 100. In regards to bundling specifically, the company has chosen to ultimately eliminate the practice from being counted towards album and song charts as music bundled with tickets and merchandise often help to inaccurately depict the true ranking of all music. In order for an artist’s sales to be counted on the charts now, albums bundled with tickets and/or merchandise are required to be promoted as add-on’s to purchases. Billboard’s new process, which they believe will properly reflect consumer choice, is set to begin in the near future.

Physical albums or single sales that are bundled with digital downloads will not be counted towards digital sales either as Billboard has decided to cancel the practice of influencing first-week chart rankings through the sale of non-manufactured items. Billboard will only count the physical item sale as official when it is shipped. As many artists have used the tactic of selling physical releases that won’t even be manufactured until a later date with their digital downloads, Billboard’s new rules will make the practice ineffective towards the charts.

Feature Image via Billboard