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For a few minutes last night, the Oscars looked like every wedding dance party you’ll attend this summer, just with a more expensive backdrop. Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
SlateWhy Is This Song No. 1?

Why Is Pharrell’s “Happy” No. 1?

3 March 20142 February 2019
Mark it: 14 months, three weeks. That’s the longest period in Billboard Hot 100 history without a lead black artist at No. 1—including all of 2013, as I noted a while back here on Slate. Fortunately, that drought has come to an end, as “Happy,” Pharrell Williams’ exuberant, irrepressible pop song, ascends to the top [...] Read more

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