Though Orbison had not had a major pop success since "Oh, Pretty Woman" hit No. 1 in 1964, his career had been revitalized by his participation in "The Traveling Wilburys," a superstar collaboration (also featuring George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne) that was rapidly climbing the charts. And he had just completed "Mystery Girl," his first new album in years.

And now, just three months later, Orbison ranks as one of the major pop stories of '89. Since late December, he has dominated the No. 1 spot on the compact disc list, both with "The Traveling Wilburys" (11 weeks as champ) and the newer "Mystery Girl," which is currently in its second week on top. Both titles also are doing well on the main pop list, where "Wilburys" repeated this week at No. 4 and "Mystery Girl" moved from No. 8 to No. 6.