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LONDON (AFP) - A reissue of the late Elvis Presley's 1959 hit One Night topped the 1,000th edition of the British single charts this week, the second week in a row for the King to top British pop charts following last week's success with Jailhouse Rock.

As a lavish celebration of what would have been the US rock 'n' roll legend's 70th birthday, Elvis's record label is reissuing all 18 of his previous number one British singles in chronological order.

Re-released 1958 classic Jailhouse Rock shot to the number one spot a week ago, and the record label's bosses hope that virtually all the others, released week by week until April 25, could do the same.

His success breaks another record as it takes the singer's own tally of number one hits to 20, the most number one hits for an artist, leaving The Beatles trailing with just 17.

Elvis, whose death aged 42 in 1977 has done remarkably little to stem his chart success, scored 18 number ones between 1957 and 2002 in Britain, a country where he remains beloved despite never having sung a single note there.

Elvis, estimated to have sold around a billion records worldwide, visited Britain only very briefly in 1960, when his plane made a short stopover in Scotland.

The success of One Night left British bookies singing the blues as they paid out to fans who had backed the King to take the prize.

Bookies William Hill were offering 5/2 in December but were forced to close the betting on Thursday after fans backed the price to 14/1 on.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: "To our knowledge this is the first time that an Elvis bet has taken us to the cleaners as the majority of Elvis bets we take are for him to be found alive -- presently offered at 500/1."

Just to bring it up, I visited Graceland yesterday. For a man who made as much money as Elvis that place is tiny. And since it's frozen in time from his death in the late 70s, it's damn ugly on the inside. For those of you who don't remember green shag carpet, be happy that's the case.