‘The Chase’ Is On

As expected, Garth Brooks’ “The Chase” blew away all the competition, premiering at No. 1 on The Times’ Southern California album chart. And with his seventh-ranked Christmas album, “Beyond the Season,” he has two in the local Top 10.

But that’s nothing compared to his domination of the local country chart. Amazingly, he has four of the Top 5--the two new albums plus “No Fences” (No. 4) and “Ropin’ the Wind” (No. 5)--as well as No. 10, “Garth Brooks.”

The exclusive Southern California charts are prepared by The Times from information supplied by SoundScan Inc., the music industry’s leading sales-reporting service.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Chase, Garth Brooks (1) -- 2 Ten, Pearl Jam (4) 1 3 Unplugged, Eric Clapton (2) 4 4 Singles, soundtrack (6) 7 5 Guerrillas in Tha Mist, Da Lench Mob (30) -- 6 Some Gave All, Billy Ray Cyrus (3) 9 7 Beyond the Season, Garth Brooks (5) 3 8 Am I Not Your Girl?, Sinead O’Connor (27) -- 9 Bobby, Bobby Brown (8) 8 10 Blood Sugar ..., Red Hot Chili Peppers (17) 10

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 End of the Road, Boyz II Men (1) 2 2 Jump Around, House of Pain (2) 4 3 Back to the Hotel, N2Deep (9) 5 4 Rhythm Is a Dancer, Snap (12) 3 5 People Everyday, Arrested Development (8) 7 6 Sometimes Love ..., Patty Smyth (3) 1 7 Please Don’t Go, K.W.S (15) 12 8 Crossover, EPMD (26) 16 9 She’s Playing Hard to Get, Hi-Five (10) 19 10 Sesame’s Treet, Smart E’s (61) --

TOP 10 COUNTRY ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Chase, Garth Brooks (1) -- 2 Some Gave All, Billy Ray Cyrus (2) 2 3 Beyond the Season, Garth Brooks (3) 1 4 No Fences, Garth Brooks (4) 3 5 Ropin’ the Wind, Garth Brooks (5) 4 6 Honeymoon in Vegas, soundtrack (10) 5 7 Wynonna, Wynonna Judd (7) 6 8 Brand New Man, Brooks & Dunn (6) 8 9 Hearts in Armor, Trisha Yearwood (16) -- 10 Garth Brooks, Garth Brooks (12) 9

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ending Sept. 27