POP THE CHAMPERS FOR ROD

While Rod Stewart’s U.K. chart-topper is being celebrated in London, the champagne is being popped in the L.A. office of his longtime manager Arnold Stiefel.

The commercial performance of Stewart’s You’re In My Heart (Warner) is unique on multiple fronts. First off, the 22-track collection of songs recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was sold without discounts or any bundling. It is only the fifth album to register more than one week at #1 on the U.K. Official Album Chart this year. And Stewart, who wrapped up a three-night sold-out stand at London’s O2 Arena tonight, did no television interviews for the project; he customarily does as many as five.

“It was expected to maybe be Top 10 for a week,” Stiefel says. “People wanted it and loved it—it didn’t take any gimmicks. ADA President] Dan Chalmers was unstoppable with this and [CEO] Max Lousada was a positive force from the get-go.”

The next step for Stewart, who turns 75 in about three weeks, may well be to see if he can take this greatest hits with an orchestra show on the road in the U.S. The O2 shows were done with a 65-piece orchestra.

“It sounds irresistible to me and so easy to do—there are so many wonderful symphony orchestras across the U.S.,” Stiefel says. Rod better get back quick to L.A. before all the vintage Dom has been poured out.