Smashing Debut

The soundtrack for Dr. Dre’s film, “Murder Was the Case,” blew away the competition, debuting at No. 1 on both the Times’ Southern California pop album chart and the national pop album chart. It also tops both R&B; charts. The main reason it’s such a hot item is simple--it features some new Snoop Doggy Dogg tracks. On the Southern California rap chart, Scarface’s “Diary” entered at No. 1. It did well on the national pop album chart too, coming in at No. 2.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Murder Was the Case, soundtrack (1) ... 2 Promised Land, Queensryche (3) ... 3 II, Boyz II Men (4) 5 4 Monster, R. E. M. (6) 1 5 Smash, Offspring (5) 2 6 No Need To Argue, Cranberries (13) 6 7 From The Cradle, Eric Clapton (7) 4 8 Tuesday Night. . ., Sheryl Crow (10) 3 9 Dookie, Green Day (9) 7 10 Hold Me. . ., Gloria Estefan (11) ...

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Hotstepper, Ini Kamoze (5) 1 2 Playaz Club, Rappin’ 4-Tay (27) 2 3 I Wanna Be Down, Brandy (4) 3 4 Never Lie, Immature (2) 4 5 I’ll Make Love To You, Boyz II Men (1) 5 6 Thuggish Ruggish Bone, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (10) 6 7 Secret, Madonna (14) 10 8 Sukiyaki, 4 P.M. . . (64) 8 9 At Your Best, Aaliyah (8) 7 10 Another Night, Real McCoy (11) 9

TOP 10 RAP ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Diary, Scarface (1) ... 2 Creepin, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (2) 1 3 Blowout Comb, Digable Planets (3) ... 4 Concrete Roots, Dr. Dre (12) 3 5 Regulate. . .Era, Warren G. (4) 2 6 Don’t Fight. . ., Rappin’ 4-Tay (25) 4 7 Ill Communication, Beastie Boys (7) 6 8 Ready To Die, Notorious Big (5) 5 9 It Takes A Thief, Coolio (9) 8 10 Licensed To Ill, Beastie Boys (...) 7

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week of Oct. 23