Longest ‘Night’

A&M; Records’ perserverance certainly paid off in the case of Sheryl Crow’s “Tuesday Night Music Club” album. It came out in August of last year, but only recently started scoring on the pop chart--No. 6 on the Times’ Southern California chart and No. 8 nationally. A hit single, “All I Wanna Do” (No. 13 on the local pop singles chart) is fueling the surge. There was no dropoff on Anita Baker’s second-week numbers (No. 2 in Southern California and No. 3 nationally), indicating that, despite the long layoff, she probably still has a sizeable fan base that could keep the album in the Top 10 for a while.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 From the Cradle, Eric Clapton (2) 1 2 Rhythm of Love, Anita Baker (3) 2 3 II, Boyz II Men (1) 3 4 Dookie, Green Day (6) 4 5 The Lion King, soundtrack (4) 8 6 Tuesday Night. . ., Sheryl Crow (8) 6 7 Smash, Offspring (7) 7 8 Songs, Luther Vandross (5) . . . 9 3 Tenors in Concert, Carreras Domingo/Pavarotti (15) 5 10 Forrest Gump, soundtrack (9) 9

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 I’ll Make Love, Boyz II Men (1) 1 2 At Your Best, Aaliyah (6) 2 3 Never Lie, Immature (3) 7 4 Stroke You Up, Changing Faces (4) 3 5 Endless Love, Vandross/Carey (2) 4 6 Bop Gun, Ice Cube (12) 5 7 When Can I See You, Babyface (10) 6 8 Playaz Club, Rappin’ 4-Tay (40) . . . 9 100% Pure Love, Crystal Waters (16) 9 10 I Wanna Be Down, Brandy (18) --

TOP 10 R&B; ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Rhythm of Love, Anita Baker (2) 1 2 II, Boyz II Men (1) 2 3 Songs, Luther Vandross (3) . . . 4 Creepin. . ., Bone Thugs-N-Harmony (4) 3 5 Regulate. . .G-Funk Era, Warren G. (5) 4 6 Changing Faces, Changing Faces (12) 6 7 Ill Communication, Beastie Boys (13) 7 8 Age Ain’t Nothing. . ., Aaliyah (11) 9 9 Jerky Boys 2, Jerky Boys (9) 8 10 Ready to Die, Notorious Big (6) --

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week of Sept. 25