Billboard Physical Sales Guide
Can only buy 4 ALBUMS PER VERSION PER TRANSACTION.
Different stores are considered different versions. You can buy 4x “A,” 4x Diary, 4x “Z,” 4x Digipak, 4x vinyl from Store A and then go buy the exact “same” version breakdown from Store B and have it count.
Fan packs (packaging the album with physical merch such as clothing and selling as a single unit) count as their own version.
If buying more than 4 of one version from the same store, split your transactions
Use different payment methods
For online purchases, use different accounts/emails/IP addresses/billing addresses/shipping address – no order details can match!
Online purchases must use a US payment method and ship to a US address.
Version tracking resets with EACH TRACKING WEEK. If you maxed out your purchases during Week 1 with a particular card/order details, you are safe to BUY AGAIN using THAT SAME CARD/order details during Week 2 tracking.
IMPORTANT! Your album purchase will be counted for Billboard upon SHIPPING not upon ordering. Your album must be shipped by Monday, 11:59pm ET of the tracking week to count. Make sure you PRE-ORDER or order EARLY in the tracking week!
All in-store purchases must follow the 4 ALBUMS PER VERSION PER TRANSACTION rule
Guaranteed to count for Billboard: In-store purchases following the guidelines will count for a particular tracking week (you don’t have to worry about an online store shipping in time)
Cash or gift cards are highly recommended for in-store purchases since they are not tied to a particular person
Important! If a store has a membership program tied to personal information (e.g., a phone number), please do not continue to use that beyond the 4 albums per version limit, even if making additional purchases using cash.