Fall Out Boy marks a new milestone as Mania gets the top spot on the Billboard 200. It's the fourth time the band has achieved the No. 1 album in their career.
Released on Jan. 19, Mania started oof with 130,000 equivalent album units in a seven-day period that lasted until Jan. 25, according to a report from Nielsen Music. This total also includes 117,000 actual traditional album sales.
While Mania is the seventh album of Fall Out Boy, it's only the fourth time they reached the top spot of the charts. Previous no.1 records of the band are Infinity on High in 2007, Save Rock and Roll in 2013, and American Beauty/American Psycho in 2015.
Two other Fall Out Boy's albums also made it to the Billboard 200. From Under the Cork Tree reached a high at No. 9 in 2005 and Folie a Deux got the No. 8 spot in 2009. The band's debut album Take This To Your Grave released in 20104 didn't get to the chart, but got to No. 17 on the Independent Albums chart.
As its first album since 2015, Fall Out Boy has overachieved with Mania. In a conversation with Billboard for the Pop Shop Podcast, bassist Pete Wentz says that he sees the success of the record as a testament to its fanbase.
He states that while the band doesn't like getting too focused on the numbers, Wentz appreciates the fan support for their newest album.
"They've been very loyal," Wentz explains. "I don't think we're an easy, popular act to swallow. It's just because they go out and buy the record. There's no other ginormous campaign. I think it's just a testament to them more than anything."
It was even more satisfying for Fall Out Boy since the band delayed the album's release from September to January. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the band confessed that the initial record simply wasn't a very good attempt. They freaked out and decided to push back the launch for a few months and retool the album.
While they were all nervous about changing the release date, Wentz says it came down to not wanting to let their loyal fanbase down. Fall Out Boy didn't want a mediocre record after Mania singles released before the album launch failed to perform well in 2017.
"So it feels a little bit vindicating that people came out and bought [it] after we took the time to make the album that we wanted," Wentz concludes.
