Partially following the lead  of the Eagles and Journey, AC/DC will release its next album through a single retail outlet, Wal-Mart, on Oct. 20.
"Black Ice" will be sold at  Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores and online at  the ac/dc site, and Walmart.com  and Samsclub.com. The band's first album of all-new material in eight years, it will feature 15 tracks and will sell for  $11.88.
Unlike Wal-Mart's two other high-profile exclusive offerings from veteran rock bands, AC/DC is not self-releasing. This is a Columbia Records release, Columbia being the sister label of Epic, which released all of AC/DC's recordings between 1976 and 1990. Columbia also released the DVD set "Plug Me In."
Limiting a release to a single retailer seemed fool-hardy a couple of years ago unless that retailer was willing to purchase CDs as "one-ways," i.e, nothing can be returned to the distributor.
Since Billboard changed its policies regarding reporting the sales of exclusives, the  key repercussion of the move - not being counted in the top 200 - has been eliminated. The change occurred after the Eagles' "Long Road Out of Eden" sold more than 700,000 copies in its first week late last year; all sales of current albums now qualify on the official top 200 that Nielsen SoundScan tallies.
The only high-profile debut schedule for that week at this time is "High School Musical 3: Senior Year Premiere Edition," which makes it highly likely AC/DC will register its first No. 1 since 1981 when "For Those of You About to Rock We Salute You" topped the chart.
The track listing is after the jump.