We'll meet again: Dame Vera set to reach No1 in album chart

Published on Friday 11 September 2009 20:51

FORCES' sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn looks on course to win her own battle – beating the Beatles, as well as younger acts, to the No1 spot in the album chart.

Her greatest hits album, We'll Meet Again, which was at No2 last week, is understood to be way ahead of the Fab Four's sales – despite a publicity blitz – and only a handful of sales behind Jamie T, who currently leads the field. Dame Vera is also closing that gap fast.

If Dame Vera makes the top spot when the chart is announced tomorrow, she will be the oldest artist ever to take the coveted position, at 92. It will also be the first No1 album of her long career.

It is possible Dame Vera could be held at bay by Jamie T's album, Kings & Queens, but sales patterns suggest that she has a strong chance of topping the list tomorrow.

Her distinctive voice and bittersweet songs kept spirits up during the dark days of the war, boosting morale among service personnel and civilians alike.

Her career enjoyed a resurgence in the early 1950s, when she became the first UK artist to top the US charts with Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart, on which she was joined by a chorus of soldiers, sailors and airmen.

This month marks the 70th anniversary of the declaration of war, and it is also 70 years to the month since the then 22-year-old singer visited the Decca studios and first recorded We'll Meet Again.

A spokesman for HMV said the fact the official charts are counting the two Beatles box sets as titles in their own right, rather than counting each of the 14 albums they contain separately, had left the door open for Dame Vera to claim the No1 slot.