A longstanding policy of the Hot 100 chart was that songs must be sold as a single. However, during the 1990s major record labels claimed that singles reduced album sales, so they were phased out. They increasingly promoted songs to radio without releasing them as singles. Labels often held off a single from release until airplay peaked, thus prompting a high debut. Often, a label deleted a single from its catalog after only one week, thus allowing the song to enter the Hot 100, make a high debut and then decline in position as the one-time production of the retail single sold out. Accusations were made that these practices manipulated the charts.