Van Nearly On Top Of The Charts

Billboard: Van Morrison's new album "Still On Top" is on target for a No. 2 bow when the British chart is published on Sunday, according to his record label Polydor.

As things stand in the mid-week sales chart, the hits set would better his previous chart best "Magic Time," which peaked at No. 3 in 2005.

Despite selling an estimated 40 million albums worldwide across a 40-year recording career, Morrison has never achieved a No. 1 single or album in the United Kingdom.


Morrison's first hits came more than 40 years ago when his band Them scored two U.K. top-10 singles on UMG's Decca in 1965, "Baby Please Don't Go" (backed with the classic anthem "Gloria") and "Here Comes the Night." He first entered onto the U.K. singles chart as a solo artist in 1979 with "Bright Side of the Road," which reached No. 63 on Universal Music Group's Mercury label.

"Still On Top" is released through a new deal struck with UMG's Polydor Records.

A new studio album is due in early 2008 on Morrison's label Exile Music, which has a licensing arrangement with UMG.
-Lars Brandle