Two artists are vying for their first No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart, as both Jason Mraz and "Weird Al" Yankovic are aiming for the top slot next week.
Industry forecasters project Mraz's "Yes!" and Yankovic's "Mandatory Fun" to each sell around 70,000 to 75,000 copies by the end of the tracking week on Sunday, July 20. Both albums were released on July 15.
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The Billboard 200's new top 10 will be revealed on Wednesday, July 23.
Mraz has previously topped out at No. 2 with his previous album, 2012's "Love Is a Four Letter Word." In total, he's collected three top 10 sets. As for Yankovic, he's claimed two top 10 efforts, though his chart history stretches back much farther than Mraz's. Yankovic arrived on the Billboard 200 back in May of 1983 with his self-titled album, containing his first Billboard Hot 100 hit, "Ricky" (a spoof of Toni Basil's No. 1 "Mickey"). Mraz, meanwhile, made his Billboard 200 debut 20 years later with "Waiting For My Rocket to Come."
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Yankovic might even snag his best sales week since SoundScan started tracking sales in 1991. Currently, his largest frame in that span of time was logged when 2006's "Straight Outta Lynwood" bowed at No. 10 with just under 73,000 sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Other albums on course for notable debuts next week include Rise Against's "The Black Market" (maybe 55,000) and the new "Kidz Bop 26" album (50,000).