HE may have been acclaimed as a pioneer of electronic music during the 38 years since he shot to the top of the pop charts with Are 'Friends' Electric - but his new material does not now fit into its genre.
Gary Numan says it is "almost unbelievable" that US chart company Billboard, have decided his new album, Savage (Songs From A Broken World), does not qualify for their dance/electronic chart, even though all but five-per-cent of it was produced by electronic instruments.
Having been classified as rock/alternative the star has missed out on a dance/electronic No 1.
In an email, a Billboard executive said that sonically, the Numan album just does not fit in there [dance/electronic]".
So Scots superstar producer Calvin Harris remains at number one with Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1.
Numan said: "I was quite shocked to hear that I was disqualified from an Electronic chart, especially when we had the No 1 position. Savage is, without doubt, and provably, the most electronic album I've made since The Pleasure Principle in'79, which arguably kick started the entire genre, so it's almost unbelievable that they can justify excluding Savage from their electronic chart."
Scots fans can make their own mind up about how electronic the new songs are, when he takes the stage of the o2 ABC in Glasgow on Tuesday in a sell-out show.
For the uninitiated, these are the top ten most played Gary Numan songs on You Tube.
10. M.E. (1979)
9. Haunted (2006)
8. Complex (1979)
7. Love Hurt Bleed (2013)
6. My Name Is Ruin (2017)
5. Down In The Park (1979)
4. I Am Dust (2017)
3. Metal (1979)
2. Are Friends Electric? (1979)
1. Cars (1979)
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