"Weird Al" Yankovic is laughing all the way to the bank, as his new album, "Mandatory Fun," has topped the Billboard 200 music chart for the week of July 20. This is the first time one of "Weird" Al's records hit number one, after 30 years of appearing on the Billboard chart.
"Mandatory Fun" is also the first comedy album to top the list since 1963 and had the largest sales for a comedy album since 1994, selling 104,000 albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
"Weird Al's" success on the Billboard chart was likely helped along by the "8 videos 8 days" campaign. For eight days starting Monday, July 14, "Weird Al" released a new music video for a song off of the new album. From "Tacky," on July 14 to July 23rd's "Mission Statement."
The songs on "Mandatory Fun" are parodies of different songs and genres, from "Foil" being a parody of Lorde's "Royals" to "Word Crimes," a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines." The music videos for the songs were just as diverse. From "Foil" as an informercial, "Lame Claim to Fame" as an animated collage, to "Mission Statment" being drawn on a whiteboard. Likewise, "Weird Al" introduced the videos on a variety of websites with different audiences, from The Nerdist to the Wall Street Journal.
"Mandatory Fun" is the first comedy album on top of the Billboard chart since Allan Sherman's "My Son, the Nut," which was number one for eight weeks starting Aug. 31, 1963. It is the biggest comedy album since 1994's "The Beavis & Butt-Head Experience," which sold 118,000 copies for the week of Jan. 2.
This album is the third top 10 album for "Weird Al" Yankovic. His "Straight Outta Lynwood" from 2006 hit number 10 and his last album, "Alpocalypse," from 2011 hit number nine. "Alpocalypse" had 44,000 in sales for its first week, less than half of the sales of "Mandatory Fun's" first-week sales.
"Weird Al" tops a Billboard chart filled with album debuts. Jason Mraz and his album "Yes!" launched at number two, Rise Against's album "The Black Market" enters as number three and Kidz Bop Kids album "Kidz Bop 26" enters at the number four spot. The top of the chart has not been filled by four album debuts since the week of Oct. 12, 2013.
"Weird Al" has released 14 albums of parody songs and comedic tunes since his debut album, "Weird Al Yankovic," in 1983.
