THE BAT-MAN RETURNS: Meat Loaf is huge...

THE BAT-MAN RETURNS: Meat Loaf is huge (again).

It seemed like a long shot two weeks ago when Pop Eye reported that Left Banke Management, the company that helped steer Duran Duran back onto the charts, was going to try to revive Meat Loaf’s career.

But MCA Records is now predicting that the hefty rocker’s new “Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell”--named after his 23 million-selling 1977 “Bat Out of Hell” album--is going to enter the charts next week in a big way.

Fueled by the soaring single “I Would Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” the album could even debut in the Top 10 when sales figures are compiled next Tuesday, other sources agree.

“We’ve been excited about this record since we first heard it,” says Dick Odette, vice president of purchasing for the 870-store Musicland chain. “It’s got a real good chance to be our No. 1 seller this week.”

At New York’s hottest Top 40 station Z100, the single jumped in recent weeks from No. 48 to 20 to 5 in the all-important requests ranks.

But the greatest testimony to the new power of Loaf comes from the interactive pay-per-view video channel the Box, where viewers call in and pay to view selected videos. Among the 20 most-requested videos on the Box, 19 are R&B;, rap or hip-hop. Meat Loaf’s track is the exception at No. 6.