What Goes Around . . .

The comeback trail is getting awfully crowded these days.

Nearly two dozen former hit-makers--from Queen to Carole King--are seeking to jump-start their stalled recording careers.

A few have already made it back to the top. Two of the top three singles this week are by Donny Osmond and Bette Midler, who haven’t cracked the Top 10 since 1975 and 1980, respectively. Osmond’s dance-oriented “Soldier of Love” is No. 2; Midler’s lush “Wind Beneath My Wings” is No. 3.

Coming up fast behind them: Donna Summer’s “This Time I Know It’s For Real,” the Doobie Brothers’ “The Doctor” and Paul McCartney’s “My Brave Face.”

The phenomenon isn’t confined to standard Top 40 names. Elvis Costello’s “Veronica” is his highest-charting single to date (No. 29); Bonnie Raitt’s “Nick of Time” is her top-charting album (No. 24).

A few comeback attempts already seem to be running out of gas. Carole King, Boy George, Julian Lennon and the Stray Cats don’t seem destined to make it back to the top with their current albums.

The jury is still out on recently released albums by Barry Manilow, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Queen and Phoebe Snow.

It’s probably just a coincidence that all these acts are mounting comebacks at the same time. But the fact that several of them are off to good starts suggests a responsiveness at radio and among fans to artists from the ‘70s.

It’s customary for fans to view veteran artists--and old songs--as a reminder of a simpler, more innocent time. But Mitchell Schneider, a top music-industry publicist, theorized that this process has been accelerated by such ‘80s developments as AIDS.

“I think when people remember the ‘80s, they’ll remember it as the era of AIDS,” he said. “There’s a nostalgia for a time that people remember as relatively safe. I heard the new Doobie Brothers song on the radio the other day, and there was something very comforting about it.

“It’s the same high you get when you watch ‘The Donna Reed Show.’ You see something that looks sterile, but it looks perfect and heartwarming in a certain way. That’s the psychological high that people are getting from it: It reminds them of a time that was relatively safe, compared to the ‘80s, which opened the floodgates to danger and doom.”

But this longing for the familiar doesn’t give former hit-makers an automatic ticket back to the top.

“I don’t think anybody can come back just like that,” Schneider said. “It has to be done in very contemporary terms. Let’s face it: Donny Osmond cut something that sounds very contemporary, very much in the George Michael vein. Donna Summer very cleverly worked with hot dance producers Stock/Aitken/Waterman.”

John Fagot, Capitol’s vice president of promotion, agreed that the music has to be right. “It just so happens that these bands made music that’s valid right now,” he said.

But Fagot added that with this many veteran acts vying to come back at once, some are bound to get lost in the shuffle. Radio stations can’t play them all without sounding like an oldies outlet. Fagot added that the glut of comeback acts could saturate the market and make it harder for fallen stars to get a foothold for the next year or two.

“If radio gets too many of these older bands, there’ll be kind of a backlash against them,” he said.

Fagot acknowledged that he was surprised by the speed with which pop and rock radio stations embraced the Doobie Brothers’ single.

“The Doobies had a lot of hits, but I wasn’t sure that sound was still going to be considered relevant in 1989,” he said. “But people really dig this song.

“I was kidding with a friend the other day, saying I wish I’d invested in this summer’s marijuana crop, because as soon as this Doobie Brothers album hits the streets, you’re going to have a ton of calls from all these ex-hippies saying, ‘Come on over, I got the new Doobie Brothers album, we’re going to roll up a few joints and get down.’ ”