'Billboard' Shocker: Eagles Beat Britney!

There will be no peaceful, easy feeling for Britney Spears.

Despite strong early sales and general critical approval (including PEOPLE's own three-star review), the singer's new album, Blackout, failed to claim the top slot on "The Billboard 200" in the music-industry trade publication.

Instead, thanks to a revised tracking policy, Billboard announced that the The Eagles' Long Road to Eden won the week. The album, available at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club, sold 711,000 copies compared to Spears's 290,000. (Previously, albums sold exclusively though select retailers were not eligible for most Billboard charts.)

"We would have preferred to make this decision earlier," said Geoff Mayfield, Billboard's director of charts, "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."

The bad news came just one day after Spears was ordered to pay $120,000 in lawyer fees for her ex Kevin Federline.