Pitbull and Ke$ha top British music charts

[January 06, 2014]  LONDON (Reuters) — American musicians Ke$ha and Pitbull claimed the first British number one single of 2014 on Sunday, after their collaboration "Timber" racked up above-average sales for early January.

The newly-released single sold 139,000 copies to knock "Happy" by Pharrell Williams off the top spot and into second place, the Official Charts Company said.

Chart-toppers Ke$ha and Pitbull have each held the number one title twice before with solo singles or collaborations, but neither had hit the number one spot for more than two years until Sunday.

Avicii and Jason Derulo held on to third and fourth places respectively while British singer Ellie Goulding climbed to fifth spot with her charity single "How long will I love you".

Goulding had more to celebrate after racking up her second number one album with "Halcyon" — an album first released in October 2012 and re-released in August 2013.

Its slow rise to the top pushed last week's number one artist, Robbie Williams, down to fourth, with Gary Barlow holding onto second place and Beyonce remaining at number three. John Newman's album "Tribute" made up the top five.

(Reporting by William James; editing by Rosalind Russell)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.