Old stars make chart history

POP HISTORY was made yesterday when the entire top five of the singles chart was made up of new entries for the first time. But the top of the charts looked like a throwback, with the return of stars who first charted in the early Eighties - or earlier.

"Believe", the new single by Cher, shot to number one 33 years after "I Got You Babe" - which she sang with her then husband, Sonny Bono - reached the top slot in 1965.

Cher, 52, who is in Rome promoting her new album Believe, said she was "absolutely ecstatic". "I am really, really excited. I couldn't have been happier if I had twins," she said.

George Michael made number two with "Outside". He first reached the charts in 1982 with "Wham!", and "Outside" is the first single since he was arrested and fined earlier this year for lewd behaviour in lavatories in a Los Angeles park.

The Irish band U2 went straight in at number three with a song recorded in 1987, "The Sweetest Thing", previously a B-side to their hit "Where The Streets Have No Name".

And Culture Club returned with their first single since reforming, "I Just Wanna Be Loved", at number four, ahead of the only truly Nineties act in the top five, Alanis Morissette with "Thank U".

The top three have been all new entries on four occasions, but chart compilers CIN said that the top five had never before been all new entries.