Cher had the longest gap between Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles, at 24 years.
Her first solo No. 1 was “Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves,” which topped the chart in 1971. Her next and most recent solo No. 1, “Believe,” reached the summit in 1999, creating a 24-year gap between chart-topping singles.
“Believe” marked a dramatic late-career revival. Its heavily processed vocal effect became a signature of late-1990s pop production, and the song became one of Cher’s defining hits. The single also made her the oldest female solo artist to top the Hot 100 at that time, at age 52.
The record concerns the interval between a performer’s own No. 1 singles, not the time between albums or appearances on another artist’s record. Cher’s chart history is especially notable because “Believe” arrived nearly three decades after she first became a major solo hitmaker.