VOA常速英语:Top 5 Songs for Week Ending March 8

We’re checking out the five most popular songs on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending March 8, 2014.

One of our hits failed to win an Oscar, but nonetheless enjoys a banner week.

Let’s begin at the beginning: in fifth place, where Beyonce and her husband Jay Z hold with “Drunk In Love.” The pair have been hitting the hot spots in London as Beyonce tours the United Kingdom. Jay Z joined her onstage at London’s O2 Arena for a performance of the song. Beyonce’s will be in London through March 6, and then moves on to a three-show stretch in Dublin, Ireland.

Shooting all the way from 11th to fourth place is John Legend, with “All Of Me.” This marks a chart first for John: despite selling millions of albums and winning nine Grammy Awards, he’d never even had a Top 20 single before, much less a Top Five entry.

Staying put in third place is Jason Derulo; featuring 2 Chainz, with “Talk Dirty.” The song went to number one in several countries from Australia to the United Kingdom. Jason may not be done yet, because he just released a Spanish-language version.

Katy Perry just lost her Hot 100 crown…but don’t feel badly for her; she made up for it elsewhere. Katy slips a slot to second place with “Dark Horse,” featuring Juicy J from Three 6 Mafia. Meanwhile, it still tops the Billboard Pop Songs chart, while also helping Katy claim a 46th total week at number one over the course of her career. She now holds the record, surpassing 45-week previous champ Mariah Carey. The Pop Songs chart has been active for 21 years.

This week, Pharrell Williams discovers that victories and setbacks may go hand in hand. Pharrell jumps to number one on the Hot 100 with “Happy.” While this is his fourth career Hot 100 win, it’s his first as a lead artist. On March 2, “Happy” failed to collect the Academy Award for Best Original Song…but Pharrell sure had a good time performing it on the telecast. Winning the trophy was “Let It Go,” from the Disney animated movie Frozen.

That’s all for today, but no worries, we’ll meet again next week.