Aaliyah heads for number one

Aaliyah: She was about to be a global star

American R&B singer Aaliyah is set for her first British number one, four months after she was killed in a plane crash.

The singer and actress is ahead in the midweek singles sales with the release of More than a Woman, a spokesman for record store HMV said.

Her death shocked her fans

The 22-year-old was killed in a light plane accident, along with eight others, in the Bahamas last August after filming a video.

"Aaliyah is in position to reach her first number one, sadly only after her death, with the release of her single this week," said HMV's Gennaro Castaldo.

New releases

But Castaldo said there was only a small margin between this week's top four singles.

Three other new releases - Pure Tone's Addicted to Bass, Doctor Dre's Bad Intentions and DJ Aligator Project's The Whistle Song - are also in the hunt for the number one spot.

Aaliyah's More than a Woman is taken from her third album Aaliyah, which was released in July and topped US album charts after her death.

About 1,200 people attended her private funeral in New York, where she was born.

She was raised in Detroit and began performing at age 11 when she sang with Gladys Knight, and her first album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number came out when she was 15 years old.

Her song Try Again earned her a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocalist, and in 2000 she made her film acting debut in Romeo Must Die.