Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” Knocks Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” From #1 On The Hot 100

Robbie Daw | February 27, 2014 9:39 am

Pharrell Williams spent the bulk of last summer in both the #1 and #2 positions on the Billboard Hot 100, via his features on Robin Thicke‘s “Blurred Lines” and Daft Punk‘s “Get Lucky,” respectively. And while the 40-year-old hit-maker has hit the top of the singles chart three additional times, this week marks his first trip to the peak position as a lead artist. Ironically, Pharrell’s “Happy” is also the first #1 song of 2014 to not have a feature on it.

“Happy” follows Katy Perry and Juicy J‘s “Dark Horse” to the top and ends its four week-reign. (Prior to that, it was Pitbull and Ke$ha‘s “Timber” at #1 right after Eminem and Rihanna‘s “The Monster.”) Williams’ clap-happy song climbing to the top caps off a whirlwind week for the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter/producer, whose second solo album G I R L was popped onto iTunes yesterday and made available as a full stream ahead of its release next week (March 3).

Looking ahead (and outside of his own material), Pharrell produced tracks that will appear on Paloma Faith‘s A Perfect Contradiction (out March 10 in the UK), Aloe Blacc‘s US release of Lift Your Spirit (March 11) and Kylie Minogue‘s Kiss Me Once (March 18).

Needless to say, we’ll be hearing his music for many, many more months to come.

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