The blowback for iTunes' preferential treatment is felt deeply on the Billboard charts. Billboard's revised policy, instituted after Lady Gaga's Born This Way was priced for 99 cents on Amazon to boost first-week sales, excludes sales of titles scanned for less than $3.49 within the first four weeks of release.
Sources say that the Amazon sale will generate about 15,000 album downloads at the Seattle-based merchant this week -- but those Amazon numbers will not count toward the album's position on this week's chart, released tomorrow (July 25).
