RED HOT AND BLUES

It's not unusual for one artist to dominate a specialty chart,'' says Billboard director of charts Geoff Mayfield of Eric Clapton's From the Cradle, whose triple-platinum sales may (or may not) make it the all-time biggest blues album. (Billboard started keeping track of blues sales only a year ago.) But purists will be pleased to learn that, Clapton aside, mainstream corruption of the blues is unlikely: Robert Cray's No. 2 Some Rainy Morning, for example, has sold only 76,000 copies -- a country mile from Hootie's septuple-platinum Cracked Rear View, which holds the same spot on the pop chart.

BLUES ALBUMS

LAST WEEKS WEEK ON CHART

1 - ERIC CLAPTON From the Cradle, Duck/Reprise 1 2 - ROBERT CRAY Some Rainy Morning, Mercury 1 3 - JOHN LEE HOOKER Chill Out, Pointblank/Virgin 1 4 - KEB' MO' Keb' Mo', OKeh/550 Music 1 5 - JIMI HENDRIX Blues, MCA 1 6 - VARIOUS ARTISTS Essential Blues, House of Blues 1 7 - CHRIS DUARTE GROUP Texas Sugar Strat Magic, Silvertone 1 8 - THE FABULOUS THUNDERBIRDS Roll of the Dice, Private Music 1 9 - POPA CHUBBY Booty and the Beast, OKeh/Epic 1 10 - BUDDY GUY Slippin' In, Silvertone 1

COLLEGE ALBUMS

1 2 THE YOUNG GODS Only Heaven, Interscope 6 2 1 SEAWEED Spanaway, Hollywood 5 3 3 LUNA Penthouse, Elektra 7 4 5 SUPERSUCKERS Sacrilicious, Sub Pop 4 5 4 FOO FIGHTERS Foo Fighters, Roswell/Capitol 9 6 6 SOUNDTRACK Kids, London 4 7 9 PALACE MUSIC Viva Last Blues, Palace/Drag City 3 8 24 BUFFALO TOM Sleepy Eyed, EastWest 8 9 27 FIG DISH That's what love songs often do, Atlas/A&M 5 10 18 CIV Set Your Goals, Lava/Atlantic 5

CONCERTS

# OF TICKET SHOWS SALES

1 1 THE ROLLING STONES Hockenheim, Germany $4,251,518 2 1 THE ROLLING STONES Leipzig, Germany $3,894,202 3 1 THE ROLLING STONES Berlin, Germany $3,588,645 4 1 THE ROLLING STONES Budapest, Hungary $1,470,023 5 2 LOLLAPALOOZA '95 New York City. $1,385,043 6 3 BON JOVI Wantagh, N.Y. $1,140,510 7 1 H.O.R.D.E. Festival Tinley Park, Ill. $646,773 8 1 LOLLAPALOOZA '95 Camden, N.J. $564,713 9 1 ELTON JOHN Burgettstown, Pa. $542,684 10 1 ELTON JOHN Raleigh, N.C. $523,105