Necessary Business

In the female rap sweepstakes, Salt-N-Pepa are trouncing the competition. Their album “Very Necessary” is No. 9 on The Times’ Southern California pop album chart and in the Top 10 on two other charts--No. 2 in rap, No. 4 in R&B.; Right now, their hit single, “Whatta Man”--No. 2 on the pop chart--is propelling sales. The surprising Crash Test Dummies, with the single “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” crashed the Top 10--at 10--and could go higher.

TOP 10 ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Colour of My Love, Celine Dion (6) 1 2 August and. . .After, Counting Crows (7) 3 3 Toni Braxton, Toni Braxton (8) 2 4 The Cross of Changes, Enigma (10) 4 5 Doggystyle, Snoop Doggy Dogg (4) 6 6 Music Box, Mariah Carey (1) 5 7 Reality Bites, soundtrack (17) -- 8 The Sign, Ace of Base (3) 9 9 Very Necessary, Salt-N-Pepa (5) 7 10 12-Play, R. Kelly (2) 10

TOP 10 SINGLES

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 The Power of Love, Celine Dion (1) 1 2 Whatta Man, Salt-N-Pepa (3) 3 3 So Much in Love, All-4-One (7) 2 4 The Sign, Ace of Base (2) 4 5 Cantaloop, Us3 (6) 9 6 Gin and Juice, Snoop Doggy Dogg (5) 5 7 Bump ‘N’ Grind, R. Kelly (4) 10 8 You Know How We Do It, Ice Cube (40) 7 9 Hey DJ, Lighter Shade of Brown (63) 16 10 Mmm Mmm. . ., Crash Test Dummies (20) 18

TOP 10 R&B; ALBUMS

Title, Artist (National Rank) Last Week 1 Toni Braxton, Toni Braxton (5) 1 2 Doggystyle, Snoop Doggy Dogg (3) 3 3 Music Box, Mariah Carey (1) 2 4 Very Necessary, Salt-N-Pepa (4) 4 5 12-Play, R. Kelly (2) 6 6 The Bodyguard, soundtrack (7) 5 7 janet., Janet Jackson (8) 9 8 Straight From Da Streets, various (65) 7 9 Lethal Injection, Ice Cube (11) 8 10 Old School, Old School (37) --

Source: SoundScan Inc., for week ending Feb. 27