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"Weird Al Yankovic has finally laughed his way to the top of the charts with his 14th album, Mandatory Fun, more than 30 years after releasing his first.\nThe project's debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart was bolstered by his #8videos8days stunt, which gave fans eight parody music videos in just as many days across YouTube and other online platforms such as College Humor, Funny or Die and Nerdist.\nSee also: 8 Very Gaga Things Lady Gaga Said on Her Artpop Ball Tour\nWeird Al's social channels heavily promoted links to iTunes and Amazon, where people could buy the album, at one point as cheap as $5.99 on Amazon.\nThe video stunt, akin to Beyonce's surprise album release that was accompanied by a music video for every song, got off to a strong start with parodies of Pharrell's \"Happy,\" Robin Thicke's \"Blurred Lines,\" Lorde's \"Royals\" and Iggy Azalea's \"Fancy.\" The blitz ended with four original songs that parodied styles of music.\n\nIf you\u2019d told me 30 years ago this would happen, I never would\u2019ve believed it. If you\u2019d told me 2 WEEKS ago, I never would\u2019ve believed it.\n\u2014 Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) July 23, 2014\n\n\nI\u2019m so pleased everybody is enjoying the album, and I\u2019m enormously grateful for everyone\u2019s support. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.\n\u2014 Al Yankovic (@alyankovic) July 23, 2014\n\n\u00A0\nWeird Al sold 104,000 copies, defeating Jason Mraz's Yes! for the top spot. Meanwhile, on Spotify, Mandatory Fun was streamed nearly 2.2 million times.\n\n\nWeird Al's 8 Music Videos in 8 Days Stunt\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. \"Tacky\" (parody of Pharrell's \"Happy\") \nDebuted on Nerdist\n\nVideo: YouTube, alyankovicVEVO\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. \"Word Crimes\" (parody of Robin Thicke's \"Blurred  Lines\") \nDebuted on YouTube\n\nVideo: YouTube, alyankovicVEVO\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. \"Foil\" (parody of Lorde's \"Royals\") \nDebuted on College Humor\n\nVideo: YouTube, CollegeHumor\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. \"Handy\" (parody of Iggy Azalea's \"Fancy\") \nDebuted on Yahoo Screen\n\nVideo: YouTube, Brendan McCoy\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. \"Sports Song\" (style parody of college football fight songs) \nDebuted on Funny or Die\n\nVideo: YouTube, Funny Or Die\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. \"First World Problems\" (style parody of Pixies)\nDebuted on YouTube\n\nVideo: YouTube, alyankovicVEVO\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. \"Mission Statement\" (style parody of Crosby, Stills and Nash)\nDebuted on WSJ.com\n\nVideo: YouTube, alyankovicVEVO\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. \"Lame Claim to Fame\" (style parody of Southern Culture on the Skids)\nDebuted on YouTube\n\nVideo: YouTube, alyankovicVEVO\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBONUS: Mashable Explains Virality\n\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/07/23/weird-al-yankovic-mandatory-fun-album-billbaord/>