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

This is the Top Five Countdown! We’re revving up the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending February 7, 2015.

Grammy excitement is in the air…can you feel it? It’s electric! Every artist in this week’s lineup has either already won or is nominated for a Grammy Award.

Seven-time Grammy winner Taylor meets herself coming and going in this week’s Top Five. It all starts in fifth place, where “Shake It Off” holds steady. Taylor won her first Grammy award in 2010. She took home four trophies that year, including Album Of The Year for Fearless.

Taylor dips a slot to number four with “Blank Space,” from her 1989 album. Here in 2015, Taylor’s chasing Grammy Awards for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance - all for “Shake It Off.” She’ll be going up against our third-place hit for Song Of The Year.

Hozier rebounds a slot to number three with “Take Me To Church.” Last year, this song became a smash after its hard-hitting video went viral…to date it’s racked up 93 million views on YouTube. Andrew Hozier-Byrne says the past few months have been a bit unbelievable… including his Song Of The Year Grammy nomination.

Holding fast to second place is Ed Sheeran with "Thinking Out Loud". His own story is pretty amazing: Ed was more or less homeless while establishing himself as a singer-songwriter. Ed says that as a struggling musician, he sometimes had no fixed address… and slept in friends’ apartments. Those days are long gone: he has six Grammy nominations under his belt, including three this year for Album Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Song Written For Visual Media.

Between them, our two chart-toppers have five Grammy wins.

Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars rule the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a fourth week with “Uptown Funk.” Mark is a three-time Grammy winner. In 2008, he took Non-Classical Producer Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album, stemming from his work with Amy Winehouse on Back To Black. Bruno is a two-time winner: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Pop Vocal Album, for Unorthodox Jukebox.

The Grammy Awards happen on Sunday, February 8 and later in the week we’ll look at an all-new hit list.