Top 5 Countdown for Week Ending Jan. 18

We’re looking at the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending January 18, 2014.

This week, three of our songs change places - that’s major movement compared with the last two weeks.


We start in fifth place, where A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera hold steady with “Say Something.” Christina heads to New Orleans in April for a high-profile gig. The lineup for this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was announced this week, and Christina is in the mix; other headliners include Arcade Fire, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Vampire Weekend. Festivities begin on April 25.

Lorde, who holds steady at number four with "Royals" has concert news of her own. The New Zealand teenager kicks off her headlining North American tour on March 3 in Austin, Texas…and all 16 U.S. dates are sold out.

Now here's where things change: after four weeks at the top, Eminem and Rihanna fall to third place with “The Monster.” The rapper took Canada by storm in 2013. He was the bestselling artist of the year, while The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was the year’s top album: it sold 242,000 units.

OneRepublic has never enjoyed a U.S. number one single, but that may soon change: “Counting Stars” this week rises a slot to second place, edging one slot closer to its first Stateside Hot 100 victory. The song already hit first place in Israel, Poland, Scotland, and the United Kingdom.

Earlier this month, Pitbull and Ke$ha went all the way to the top in the U.K. with “Timber,” and this week we in the United States follow suit - it jumps one slot to take the prize. Unfortunately, Ke$ha’s currently in rehab for an eating disorder, while her mother recently checked herself into the same facility for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Will “Timber” hold at the top for a second week? Katy Perry’s new hit “Dark Horse” is moving up fast - join us next week to see what happens.