Another Sign of the End Times

We've got the Arctic melting, nuclear sabre rattling in Iran, growing bird flu pandemic worries, and now this:

For the first time in nearly 29 years, Barry Manilow tops The Billboard 200. "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties" bows at No. 1 with sales of 156,000 copies in the United States, giving the artist his best sales week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.

The Arista album features Manilow revisiting such evergreens as "Unchained Melody" and "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." The artist's lone prior chart-topper came in July 1977 with his double concert LP "Live." His last album, "Scores: Songs From Copacabana and Harmony" (Concord), peaked at No. 47.