The world of music is making things right by changing the rules to allow the Eagles to claim their rightful place on top of Britney Spears. Reuters reports:

In an unusual development on the U.S. pop album charts, veteran rock band the Eagles were awarded the No. 1 spot on Tuesday after a last-minute rule change relegated Britney Spears to second place.

The Eagles’ first studio release in 28 years, "Long Road Out of Eden," sold about 711,000 copies last week, according to preliminary data released by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. Spears sold a modest 290,000 copies of her album, "Blackout."

In a normal world, the Eagles would be No. 1 and Spears No. 2, but the Eagles album was available only through Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which traditionally does not report data to SoundScan. Additionally, trade publication Billboard does not allow such exclusive releases to appear on its flagship Billboard 200 chart, which is compiled from SoundScan data.

That meant Spears would have been No. 1 upon the release of final SoundScan figures on Wednesday morning. However, Billboard said late Tuesday that it had changed its rule and the Eagles would indeed be No. 1. The rule was imposed at the request of retailers and labels shortly after Billboard started using SoundScan data in 1991.

"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," said Geoff Mayfield, Billboard’s director of charts.

Britney undersold her target of 350,000 units, and didn’t take the number one spot despite all her daily drama, and effort to stay in the spotlight. Heavily engineered sound like Britney just can’t compete with real artists like the Eagles. Congratulations Eagles, you deserve it.