For the third consecutive week, Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” is the number one song in the country.

Pause for a moment to absorb that information.

This is what happens when Billboard starts integrating streaming data from YouTube into its chart assessments, as it started doing earlier this year.

http://youtu.be/Bk1_DbbzSdY

Sitting at number two is the please-God-make-it-go-away “Thrift Shop” from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

So, essentially, the top two tracks on U.S. radio are novelty songs.

Be proud, America!

A friend and I had a discussion about what constitutes a novelty song. Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”? She says no, because it became part of the culture. I’m a little partial since I lived in South Florida at the time of its popularity, so I’m also leaning toward no since it was a local anthem.

But “Pac Man Fever” from Buckner and Garcia? Absolutely. It’s nothing more than three and a half minutes of nonsense about a video game (but, yes, I thought it was pretty awesome in 1982).

And of course we can’t already forget about Psy and “Gangnam Style.” It certainly deserves a novelty tag because of its sheer ubiquity and really, anything that spurs a dance craze (hello, “Macarena”) belongs in the novelty column.

But, Psy’s song at least has a purpose – he’s looking for a “sensible” girl and one who “covers herself but is more sexy than a girl who bares it all” (that is, if Internet translations are to be believed).

Hey, it’s more meaningful than the pointless “Harlem Shake.”

So now that you’ll go through the day wishing you could “wax a chump like a candle,” I’ll leave you to ponder your favorite novelty songs over the years and share them below.