How He Did It

R&B; singer Montell Jordan from South-Central didn’t waste any time. With his first-ever single, “This Is How We Do It,” he shot to the top of The Times’ Southern California pop singles chart. Nationally, it’s a smash too, ranking No. 3. Rapper 2Pac’s prison sentence doesn’t seem to have turned off his fans. His “Me Against the World” album debuted at No. 1 on the pop, rap and R&B; charts

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Me Against the World, 2Pac (1) ... 2 Medusa, Annie Lennox (11) ... 3 Greatest Hits, Bruce Springsteen (2) 1 4 Tuesday Night, Sheryl Crow (7) 2 5 Safe + Sound, DJ Quik (28) 3 6 Hell Freezes Over, Eagles (3) 4 7 II, Boyz II Men (6) 5 8 Throwing Copper, Live (9) 8 9 Dookie, Green Day (10) 6 10 No Need to Argue, Cranberries (14) 11

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 ... How We Do It, Montell Jordan (3) 6 2 Keep Their Heads Ringin’, Dr. Dre (9) 5 3 Candy Rain, Soul Four Real (1) 1 4 Baby, Brandy (5) 3 5 Red Light Special, TLC (4) 7 6 Big Poppa, Notorious B.I.G. (2) 2 7 Take a Bow, Madonna (10) 4 8 If You Think, K-CI Hailey(15) 8 9 Lil’ Game We Play, Subway (12) 9 10 Run Away, Real McCoy (6) 10

TOP 10 COUNTRY ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Hits, Garth Brooks (1) 1 2 What a Crying Shame, Mavericks (12) 4 3 Thinkin’ ..., Trisha Yearwood (6) 3 4 Stones in the Road, Mary Chapin Carpenter (11) 2 5 Now That I’ve Found You, Alison Krauss (9) ... 6 Not a Moment, Tim McGraw (2) 5 7 The Tractors, The Tractors (8) 10 8 Read My Mind, Reba McEntire (18) 6 9 No Ordinary Man, Tracy Bird (5) ... 10 You Might Be a Redneck If ... , Jeff Foxworthy (3) 9

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week of Mar. 19