Certifiable winners

'Fences,' 'Pill' among top albums of '90s

By ADAM SANDLER

Garth Brooks' "No Fences" and Alanis Morissette's debut "Jagged Little Pill" were certified by the Recording Industry Assn. of America at 16 million units, making them two of the bestselling albums in the '90s. The discs tie the previous list topper, the Arista Records soundtrack to "The Bodyguard."

According to the July certifications released Thursday by the trade org -- which tracks album shipments to retailers -- Morissette's Maverick Records album also tied with the Columbia Records 1976 debut by Boston as the top-selling bows in industry history.

The nod is particularly notable as it took the Grammy-winning Canadian songstress three years to reach the record breaking plateau, while it took Boston more than 15 years.

Top country album

Brooks' Capitol Nashville disc "No Fences" additionally checked in as the industry's bestselling country album, adding to the phenom's already hefty sales accolade list. He also owns the second bestselling country album, "Ropin' The Wind," which is certified at 13 million.

Brooks can lay claim to four of the industry's six country albums that have crossed the 9 million unit mark.

Brooks is followed by Shania Twain's Mercury Nashville Records' "The Woman In Me" at 10 million units and labelmate Billy Ray Cyrus' "Some Gave All" at 9 million units as the two other albums gracing the upper rungs of the country albums list.

Latin roots

With the stateside Latin music marketplace heating up over the past 18 months, the RIAA fittingly also certified a number of Latin-rooted offerings.

"Dreaming of You," the 1995 album that was destined to sear Selena into the pop mainstream before her murder, was certified at 3 million units, making it the industry's second most successful English-language album.

Selena's EMI Latin disc trails only Julio Iglesias' Columbia Records "1100 Bel Air Place," which is certified at 4 million, but was released in 1984.

A week after topping the sales charts with its latest Capitol/Grand Royale album "Hello Nasty" and becoming the industry's eighth best bow, the Beastie Boys 1986 Def Jam/Polygram disc, "Licensed to Ill," was certified at 8 million units.

"Licensed to Ill" is the most successful rap album by a white artist, and toppled Vanilla Ice's SBK/EMI debut "To the Extreme," which was certified at 7 million.