VOA常速英语:Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Dec. 7

We’re spotlighting the five most popular songs on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending December 7, 2013.

It all starts in fifth place, where Avicii dips a slot with “Wake Me Up!” The song features vocals from U.S. singer Aloe Blacc.

Born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins, this 34-year-old Californian has kicked around the Los Angeles music scene for some time: he’s hosted a Sunday dance party since 2005, and his song “I Need A Dollar” was the theme for the HBO TV series How To Make It In America. Aloe says “Wake Me Up” has supercharged his career. He’s currently shooting his role in the upcoming James Brown biopic, and his third album Lift Your Spirit hits the market next year on the Interscope label.

Up two slots to fourth place goes OneRepublic with “Counting Stars.” This is a historic success for Ryan Tedder and his band - their biggest Hot 100 success since 2007, when “Apologize” made it to number two. It also recently became OneRepublic’s first career chart-topper in the United Kingdom.

Still swinging in third place is Miley Cyrus with “Wrecking Ball.” Fellow pop star Joe Jonas just dropped a bombshell item about Miley. Speaking with New York Magazine, Joe, a member of the Jonas Brothers, says he smoked marijuana for the first time with Miley and his ex-girlfriend Demi Lovato. All three once had to project squeaky-clean images as Disney TV stars.

Our next acts have no such problems: Eminem and Rihanna hold in second place with “The Monster.” It’s already topped charts in nearly a dozen countries worldwide, including Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Lorde enters the Hot 100 record books, as “Royals” spends a ninth week at number one. The New Zealand teenager is the fifth woman in Hot 100 history to reign for at least nine weeks as a first-time headliner. She follows Debby Boone, Ashanti, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Ke$ha.

Can Lorde move into double digits at number one? We’ll find out next week.