VOA常速英语:Top 5 Songs for Week Ending Jan. 31

We’re lighting up the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending January 31, 2015.

It’s been a good year so far, with every week yielding at least one new title. We could get used to this!

Let’s open in fifth place, which brings back a previous champ: Taylor Swift, and “Shake It Off.” This week, Australian network Triple J announced the winner of its fan-voted Hottest 100 music poll…and Taylor Swift’s name was nowhere to be found. The network had banned her, reacting to a social media campaign to push “Shake It Off” to number one. By the way, singer-songwriter Chet Faker emerged the winner.

Dipping a slot to fourth place is Hozier, with “Take Me To Church.” The Irish singer recently surprised some students. Earlier this month, Hozier paid a surprise visit to Dublin’s British and Irish Modern Music Institute. He spoke about gigging around the globe and dealing with sudden fame.

Sudden fame is ancient history to our third-place act: Taylor Swift has been a superstar for more than five years. In fact, her latest album is her fastest-seller yet. Taylor backs off a notch to third place with “Blank Space.” Last week, her 1989 album became her fifth set to reach four million U.S. sales…by the way, that’s every one of them. As icing on the cake, it achieved that milestone faster than any of her other albums.

Jumping two slots to second place goes Ed Sheeran with “Thinking Out Loud.” Ed may have made an unlikely fan out of a previous opponent. Earlier this month, former Oasis member Noel Gallagher said he couldn’t live with the fact that Ed was playing several July dates at London’s massive Wembley Stadium. Ed reached out to Noel, offering him free tickets. He tells the Daily Star that Noel accepted, on behalf of his teenage daughter. Ed also says he doesn’t mind criticism - it keeps him humble.

Fellow British artist Mark Ronson keeps the crown, as “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars spends a third week at the top. How’s Mark doing back home? Across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom, “Uptown Funk” spends a sixth week at number one, while Uptown Special becomes his first chart-topping U.K. album.

That’s it for now - join us next week for a whole new lineup.