Three of Whitney Houston's songs re-entered the Billboard charts this week, forcing the company to change its criteria for ranking older singles.

"Going forward we feel that it is the proper move to allow older titles posting enough activity to return to the Hot 100 if ranking in the chart's upper half," said Silvio Pietroluongo, Billboard's director of charts. The change won't affect the removal of a song on the Hot 100 chart if it can't break into the Top 50 after 20 weeks.

Houston's 1992 hit "I Will Always Love You" reappeared at No. 7 on the Hot 100 chart following the singer's death last Saturday.

Since digital sales were responsible for Houston's chart resurgence, Pietroluongo had no other choice but to reassess how older songs are ranked.

"As the digital age has progressed," he said, "with the immediacy it provides, the line has blurred between the relevancy of new and older recordings, which are for the most part equally accessible from one's home computer." Approximately 195,000 digital copies of "I Will Always Love You" were downloaded.

Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) sits at No. 35, while "Greatest Love of All" appears at No. 41.

Tags: Whitney Houston