Dre Rings Up Sales

Dr. Dre’s hit single “Keep Their Heads Ringin’ ” is helping to keep the “Friday” soundtrack on top of both The Times’ Southern California pop album and R&B; charts. It’s been a very slow year for new country music in Southern California so far. You can tell because the local Top 10 is still dominated by Garth Brooks’ year-end greatest-hits package, “The Hits” and other big sellers from last year--albums by Tim McGraw, Jeff Foxworthy, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Mavericks.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Friday, soundtrack (2) 1 2 Throwing Copper, Live (1) 4 3 Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish (3) 13 4 Medusa, Annie Lennox (21) 9 5 The Lion King, soundtrack (4) 2 6 Hell Freezes Over, Eagles (8) 10 7 No Need to Argue, Cranberries (15) 2 8 Astro Creep: 2000, White Zombie (9) 3 9 Tuesday Night, Sheryl Crow (11) 7 10 Made in England, Elton John (19) 8

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TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 This Is How, Montell Jordan (1) 1 2 Keep Their Heads Ringin’, Dr. Dre (6) 2 3 Freak Like Me, Adina Howard (2) 3 4 I’d Rather Be Alone, IV Example (54) 5 5 Dear Mama, 2Pac (3) 4 6 Have You Ever ... ?, Bryan Adams (11) 14 7 Ask of You, Raphael Saadiq (12) 9 8 Lick It, Roula (63) 12 9 Red Light Special, TLC (4) 8 10 Candy Rain, Soul for Real (7) 6

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TOP 10 COUNTRY ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Hits, Garth Brooks (2) 1 2 John Michael Montgomery, John Michael Montgomery (1) 2 3 No Ordinary Man, Tracy Byrd (3) 3 4 Lead On, George Strait (7) 8 4 Thinkin’ About You, Trisha Yearwood (12) 5 6 Now That I’ve Found You, Alison Krauss (4) ... 7 Not a Moment Too Soon, Tim McGraw (5) 4 8 What a Crying Shame, Mavericks (18) 7 9 You Might Be a Redneck If ... , Jeff Foxworthy (6) ... 10 Stones in Road, Mary C. Carpenter (27) 10

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week of April 23