The Awards Pay Off

TV strikes again. As expected, performances on the American Music Awards show boosted sales of spotlighted artists. Toni Braxton got a lot of exposure, which translated into enough sales to push her “Toni Braxton” to the top of both The Times’ Southern California pop album chart and the national chart. Whitney Houston collected the most awards for “The Bodyguard” soundtrack, and the album re-entered the chart at No. 6. Enigma, producer Michael Cretu’s techno project, debuted at No. 2 with its second album, “The Cross of Changes.” Looks like Enigma’s first album may not have been, as many charged, a fluke novelty hit.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Toni Braxton, Toni Braxton (1) 4 2 The Cross of Changes, Enigma (12) -- 3 The Colour of My Love, Celine Dion (10) 3 4 Doggystyle, Snoop Doggy Dogg (3) 2 5 August and ... After, Counting Crows (7) 7 6 The Bodyguard, soundtrack (11) -- 7 Music Box, Mariah Carey (2) 5 8 Jar of Flies, Alice in Chains (9) 6 9 Under the Pink, Tori Amos (22) 8 10 Very Necessary, Salt-N-Pepa (6) 9

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Power of Love, Celine Dion (1) 1 2 So Much in Love, All-4-One (16) 2 3 Whatta Man, Salt-N-Pepa (2) 3 4 The Sign, Ace of Base (3) 6 5 Breathe Again, Toni Braxton (10) 7 6 All for Love, Adams/Stewart/Sting (5) 5 7 Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams..., Meat Loaf (12) 14 8 Gin & Juice, Snoop Doggy Dogg (9) 8 9 Getto Jam, Domino (4) 4 10 You Know How We Do It, Ice Cube (45) --

TOP 10 HARD ROCK ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Jar of Flies, Alice in Chains (1) 1 2 Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins (3) 2 3 Core, Stone Temple Pilots (5) 4 4 Vs., Pearl Jam (2) 3 5 Get a Grip, Aerosmith (4) 6 6 Rage..., Rage Against the Machine (8) 5 7 In Utero, Nirvana (6) 7 8 Blind Melon, Blind Melon (14) 9 9 Some Old Bull----, Beastie Boys (7) -- 10 Ten, Pearl Jam (10) --

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ending Feb. 13