As she hits her 18th chart-topper “Touch My Body,” Mariah Carey has passed Elvis Presley for the most No. 1 singles on the Billboard singles chart, and is now second only to the Beatles. But while the diva was in full celebration mode after learning of her latest milestone, she was also quick to put her accomplishment in perspective.

Carey’s single is the new No. 1 single on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart: The song also is No. 1 on the trade magazine’s digital download chart thanks to a precedent-setting 286,000 downloads in its debut week. She had been tied with Presley with 17 No. 1 singles; the Beatles are the all-time leaders with 20. (Madonna also beat a Presley record this week, surpassing the King for the most top 10 hits with her 37th for her hit “4 Minutes.”).  At age 38 we can probably expect a few more number one singles from her.

Ola Brunkert, one of the former drummers for the Swedish pop group ABBA, has been found dead at his home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.Police said that Brunkert was found dead in his garden by a neighbour Sunday night, with cuts to his neck. An autopsy Monday showed his death was an accident, likely caused by falling through plate glass.

A Civil Guard spokesman said Brunkert appeared to have hit his head and cut his neck on a glass door in the dining room. He had wrapped a towel around his neck and appeared to have been going for help when he collapsed in the garden.

Brunkert, 62, first played with members of ABBA on the group’s first single, People Need Love, created in 1972 before the group was known as ABBA — an acronym based on the first letters of the singers’ given names.

ABBA members Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson toured with Brunkert in 1977, 1979 and 1980, after achieving international recognition at the Eurovision song contest and with the hit song S.O.S.

Brunkert was drummer and Rutger Gunnarsson played bass on all of ABBA’s albums, which continue to sell close to three million records a year.

The band split in 1982, but their success continued with the hit musical Mamma Mia and U2’s rendition of their Dancing Queen. I have been a big Abba fan ever since seeing the movie Muriel’s Wedding, sorry to see him go, especially this way.

Veteran music star Barry Manilow has pulled out of an appearance on a US TV talk show because he disagrees with the host’s political views.  Manilow requested not to be interviewed by former reality show star Elisabeth Hasselbeck - known for her conservative views on abortion and the Iraq war.

The singer, a fundraiser for the Democrat party, said on his website: “I cannot compromise my beliefs.”  He was set to promote his new album, The Greatest Songs of the Seventies.  “I wanted to let you know that I will no longer be on The View tomorrow as scheduled,” the star wrote.

“I had made a request that I be interviewed by Joy [Behar], Barbara [Walters] or Whoopi [Goldberg] but not Elisabeth Hasselbeck.  “Unfortunately, the show was not willing to accommodate this simple request, so I bowed out,” he continued.

It has been reported that the 64-year-old singer has donated money to the presidential campaigns of Democrats Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joseph Biden and John Edwards, as well as Ron Paul, a maverick Texas Republican.  Manilow, who has appeared on The View twice in the past year with Hasselbeck present, said: “It’s really too bad, because I’ve always been a big supporter of the show, but I cannot compromise my beliefs.  “The good news is I will be on a whole slew of other shows promoting the new album, so I hope you can catch me on those.”  I really love this guy I just wish he would use less make-up.

This news surfaced during the promotional campaign for the three novels he has co-written about his life in the G-Unit crew.

“The kids become immune when you constantly beat them over the head” ‘Read a book, read a book.’ We have to be a little more creative about it,” he told the New York Post. “It’s the same with safe sex. As opposed to being part of a safe-sex campaign, I’m going to make condoms and donate a part of the proceeds to HIV awareness.  Good move 50 Cent!