Retrieving top unique records

[Semprise]

Say I have a table T with column N

N
--
5
2
8
3
9
6
2
12
23
9

I want to get the top 5 highest unique numbers: that is 23, 12, 9, 8, 6.

SELECT UNIQUE N
FROM T
WHERE ROWNUM <=5

Will give me 23, 12, 9 ,8. It seems to count the 9 twice. Without UNIQUE:

SELECT N
FROM T
WHERE ROWNUM <=5

I get 23, 12, 9, 9 ,8

Anyone know what I do to get the 5 values I want? I am using oracle 8i.

[Semprise]

I think my example table/query was a poor one. I figured it out anyways.

[chazzy]

did it work with a group by clause?

[Semprise]

No, using group by gave the same results as using unique if I remember correctly.

I just had it select from a table T that held only unique values, no duplicates.