O Canada

One of the surprise hits of the year is country singer Shania Twain’s “The Woman in Me,” which is No. 2 on The Times’ Southern California country album chart and No. 1 nationally. Out of nowhere, with a strong boost from her hit single, “Any Man of Mine,” the Canadian has rocketed into that elite sales league with female country singers Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire. Who would have ever thought that, after a just few weeks in release, a Michael Jackson album would be out-sold--in Southern California anyway--by an Alanis Morissette album? But Jackson’s “HIStory” (No. 4) does trail Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” (No. 3).

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Pocahontas, soundtrack (2) 1 2 Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish (1) 5 3 Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (14) 9 4 HIStory ... , Michael Jackson (4) 3 5 Crazysexycool, TLC (3) 11 6 Batman Forever, soundtrack (5) 13 7 Operation Stackola, Luniz (28) 7 8 Tigerlily, Natalie Merchant (13) 17 9 Four, Blues Traveler (9) ... 10 Forever Blue, Chris Isaak (34) ...

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 One More Chance, Notorious B.I.G. (2) 1 2 Waterfalls, TLC (1) 5 3 Don’t Take It Personal, Monica (4) 7 4 I Got 5 on It, Luniz (24) 3 5 Freek’N You (Part I), Jodeci (5) 11 6 Every Little Thing I Do, Soul IV Real (19) 9 7 Scream, Michael Jackson (6) 13 8 He’s Mine, Mokenstef (7) 15 9 Total Eclipse, Nicki French (11) 17 10 Feel Me Flow, Naughty by Nature (8) ...

TOP 10 COUNTRY ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Hits, Garth Brooks (3) 1 2 The Woman in Me, Shania Twain (1) 3 3 John Michael Montgomery, John Michael Montgomery (2) 5 4 Read My Mind, Reba McEntire (9) ... 5 Now That I’ve Found You, Alison Krauss (4) 9 6 Greatest Hits, Lorrie Morgan (5) 7 7 No Ordinary Man, Tracy Byrd (8) ... 8 You Might Be a Redneck ... , Jeff Foxworthy (6) ... 9 Not a Moment, Tim McGraw (7) ... 10 Who I Am, Alan Jackson (11) ...

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week of July 16