David Bowie's new single ruled out of chart contention

David Bowie's first single in many year won't be sitting atop the UK singles charts this weekend, in spite of the fact that it's reached the summit of the iTunes charts.

'Where Are We Now?' has been arguably one of the most played tracks worldwide this week after Bowie announced plans for a brand new album earlier this week (on the occasion of his 66th birthday, too!) and has overcome challenges from Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

The single can't be purchased for a little over a Euro but where it gets contentious is that the single automatically downloads to any iTunes user who pre-orders the album.

The Official Charts Company in the UK explained further: "Owing to chart rules which are agreed in partnership with UK record companies and retailers, data relating to the David Bowie single 'Where Are We Now?' cannot currently be counted towards the official singles charts, as the release is linked to an album pre-order promotion and it is not possible to distinguish album sales from tracks sales from the retail data received. Should it become possible in future for the regular track sales to be distinguished from album pre-order incentive purchases, then these sales can be counted towards the charts."

Not that we think that Bowie himself would give two shits about this, but it's slightly disappointing to see some red tape get in the way of another landmark of the man's legendary career.