Breathing Easy

Whitney Houston has helped propel another soundtrack to the top of the charts. “Waiting to Exhale”--featuring three songs by Houston, including the hit single “Exhale (Shoop Shoop)”--last week replaced Mariah Carey’s “Daydream” at No. 1 on The Times’ Southern California album chart and this week replaces “Daydream” atop the national album chart. Houston had six songs on “The Bodyguard” soundtrack, which topped the charts for 20 weeks in 1993 and has sold 11.1 million copies. “Waiting to Exhale” was produced and written almost entirely by Babyface.

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TOP 10 ALBUMS

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Title, Artist (Nat’l Rank) Last Week 1 Waiting to Exhale, soundtrack (1) 1 2 Jagged Little Pill, Alanis Morissette (3) 3 3 Daydream, Mariah Carey (2) 2 4 Cracked Rear View, Hootie & the Blowfish (4) 7 5 Mellon Collie, Smashing Pumpkins (9) 5 6 Dogg Food, Tha Dogg Pound (24) 4 7 Sixteen Stone, Bush (10) 6 8 Something to Remember, Madonna (13) 8 9 Relish, Joan Osborne (23) 16 10 R. Kelly, R. Kelly (12) 9

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TOP 10 SINGLES *--*

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey (1) 1 2 Hey Lover, LL Cool J (2) 2 3 Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Whitney Houston (3) 3 4 Ridin’ Low, L.A.D. (51) 5 5 Tonite’s Tha Night, Kris Kross (6) 8 6 Let’s Play House, Tha Dogg Pound (24) 9 7 Just Tah Let U Know, Eazy-E (22) 7 8 Set U Free, Planet Soul (33) 4 9 Anything, 3T (12) 12 10 Beware of My Crew, L.B.C. Crew (74) 6

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TOP 10 COUNTRY ALBUMS *--*

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Fresh Horses, Garth Brooks (1) 1 2 Woman in Me, Shania Twain (3) 3 3 Greatest Hits, Alan Jackson (2) 2 4 Greatest Hits, Vince Gill (4) 4 5 Hits, Garth Brooks (7) 5 6 It Matters to Me, Faith Hill (8) 8 7 Starting Over, Reba McEntire (6) 6 8 All I Want, Tim McGraw (5) 7 9 Mr. Christmas, Joe Diffie (27) ... 10 Now That I’ve Found You, Alison Krauss (16) ...

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Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ending Jan. 7