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Parodying pop hits such as Pharrell's "Happy" ("Tacky") and
Lorde's "Royals" ("Foil"), Yankovic's "Mandatory Fun" album sold
104,000 copies in its debut week, according to figures compiled
by Nielsen SoundScan.
Billboard said it is the first comedy album to top the chart
since 1963, adding that "Mandatory Fun" had the most weekly
sales for a comedy album since 1994.
Yankovic, who has scored hits over the past 30 years with
parodies such as "Like a Surgeon"(Madonna's "Like a Virgin") and
"Amish Paradise" (Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise") launched a
promotional campaign releasing eight new music videos in as many
days.
The next three spots on the Billboard 200 were all claimed by
debuts: singer-songwriter Jason Mraz was No. 2 with "Yes!"
selling 81,000 albums, rock band Rise Against's "The Black
Market" was No. 3 with 53,000 copies and Kidz Bop Kids' "Kidz
Bop 26" was No. 4 with 46,000.
The soundtrack from Disney's animated hit "Frozen" held on to
fifth place, extending its run in the chart's top five to 31
weeks.
In the digital songs chart, "Rude," from Canadian reggae fusion
band Magic! held on to first place with 195,000 downloads.
Total album sales for the week ended July 20 were 4.4 million,
an 8 percent decline from the same week last year, Billboard
said. Overall year-to-date album sales are 133.5 million, a 15
percent decrease from the same period last year.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey and Mary Milliken; Editing by Jan
Paschal)
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