Ranking all 14 "Weird Al" Yankovic on the 40th anniversary of his debut

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s first proper album — a 12-song eponymous LP — turned 40 years old this week. While the tracks within may not be as relevant as they were back then, the artist remains a part of the cultural landscape.

Sure, Yankovic hasn’t released a full studio album since 2014, but he remains a pop culture staple. He’s been a persistent presence on YouTube, uploading old clips, custom made content and new songs with regularity. His incredibly, 100 percent accurate and true-to-life biopic Weird came out last November and was, despite being released exclusively on Roku, a filmmaking triumph.

In honor of his absurd longevity, I’m going to pay tribute to the parodist who has defined several generations by distilling his life’s work into a 14-point list and subjectively ranking each entry.

For this ranking’s purposes, I’m only counting full length albums composed of original material — no compilations like Greatest Hits or the Food Album qualify since all their songs were first released elsewhere. The end result is a breakdown of more than a dozen releases that range from good to great, each of which would look suitable on my record shelf (sadly, the majority of my Weird Al discography exists in cassette tape form).

Let’s start at the bottom and work our way up. And if you’re looking for a breakdown of his top 20 parody songs, well, we’ve got you covered there as well.