Sales of a new compact disc single featuring a pop star's tribute to a fairy tale Princess have been brisk on the Island.

So much so, in fact, that Hamilton's three major music stores were all sold out of Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997'' when contacted yesterday. The CD singles are priced at $8.50 each.

Elton sang the song at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, in London's Westminster Abbey on September 6, then recorded it hours later at a studio, backed by a string quartet instead of piano.

His lyricist, Bernie Taupin, rewrote the words to the song, which was originally about Marilyn Monroe, in honour of the Princess. Diana, boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed and a driver were killed in a car crash on August 31 in Paris.

Elton has said he will never sing the song live again, or publicly discuss Diana's death.

Music World spokesman Steven Rodrigues said the store brought in about 80 copies of the UK version of the single which featured the title track plus "Something About The Way You Look Tonight'' and "You Can Make History Young Again''.

They had all sold out, he continued, and he was hoping that the store would receive more copies today of both the UK and the US single.

Mr. Rodrigues said Music Box also brought in 80 copies of the single which had sold out. And Sound Stage spokesman Joe Lopes said his store had sold out of the 60 copies of the UK single it had brought in. He said he was also hoping to have both the UK and US singles in soon.

Mr. Lopes said he expected the rapid sales to slow down by next week. He said distributors were refusing to send out large orders of discs at one time which was why stores were selling out.

The UK single was released last week and as of Monday was at the top of the charts for the second week in a row and was selling at a rate of about 200,000 copies a day.

Proceeds from the compact disc and cassette are being donated to The Diana, Princess of Wales, Memorial Fund.