Look Into My Eyes
It has been 35 years since any record managed to spend 16 weeks - of any kind - at the top of the Official UK Singles chart. The song that did so in the summer of 1991 shattered expectations at almost every turn. Everything I Do (I Do It For You) was by a man - Bryan Adams - whose appeal was arguably only at cult level, who had never before had a Top 10 single and indeed one whose last album had been largely ignored on these shores. It was from a movie, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, which had been shot in a hurry, with a script so flawed that one of its stars - Alan Rickman - was reduced to improvising his best lines and with a lead actor - Kevin Costner - whose half-arsed attempt at an English accent is mocked to this day.
Yet the song became the first in six years to sell a million, the first since the 1950s to have at least ten weeks at the top of the charts, before going on to shatter the all-time consecutive weeks record which had held since that same era. And the movie itself on the back of it became a beloved classic and, largely thanks to Bryan Adams, enjoyed an extended cinema run which saw it force its way back to Screen 1 after being relegated to the side auditoriums by newer releases. I remember one cinema usher friend commenting at the time they had never known a film like it. But that was all part of the magic.
There have been other megahits since that have approached that total. Songs by Wet Wet Wet, Drake, and Ed Sheeran threatened to approach it, but none ever did. The No.1 run of Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean may not have been a consecutive one - but then again that makes it even more impressive that it has hovered at or near the top of the market for even longer than the headline stats indicate. Following previous spells of three weeks, and two more of five weeks each, Rein Me In is this week No.1 for the third week in a row. And for the 16th in all. In doing so it takes over as the British single with the most weeks at the top of the charts ever. There is now only one other record that has spent longer at the top of the British singles chart. I Believe by Frankie Laine with its 18 week total is engraved on the heart of every chart nerd going. And even that benchmark is now under threat.
Nothing Wrong With Walking Alone
When a song has been around for so bloody long, you start to develop a complicated relationship with it. Some online friends are openly marvelling at how people aren't bored of the track - a sentiment that becomes even stronger when you consider it was a chart hit for six months before it even began this epic stint at No.1. It's funny, I don't remember being that tired of Everything I Do (I Do it For You) by the end of its epic run. The now sporadically updated No.1 chronicle blog Popular elected to listen to it 16 times in a row to try to recreate the feeling. But then again it had only been on the chart for a fortnight before ascending to the top. One Dance by Drake I struggled to ever develop any love for, considering it hot garbage from the start; its insane lodging at the summit not something I managed to fully get my head around. I still cringe to hear it today.
But Rein Me In is somehow different. It helps that it is not the same song that Fender originally penned. His version (found on his People Watching album) was solely written from the male perspective, the story of a man tormented by the ghosts of a long-dead relationship, finding echoes of the past following him everywhere. "Every flagstone of this town bears our prints". "All the bars round here serve my ghosts and carcasses". Olivia Dean's contribution was more than just a re-sing. She brought with her a new verse, one in which she offers her own solace. She'll take him back; he just needs to get over himself. And perhaps, just perhaps, this is why people love it so much and have done so for a year and more. It is a love ballad framed in a way that is refreshingly and touchingly different.
Science Bit
As regular readers will be aware, its time at No.1 is not the only record that Rein Me In has approached. This is the song's 38th week in total as a Top 10 single, its 28th consecutively. The former now a record for a non-Christmas track, the latter a record that it broke several weeks ago. It is also its 55th consecutive week as a Top 40 hit single, to finally break a record previously held by Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. We do also have to mention in dispatches Ordinary by Alex Warren, this week's No.24 single in what is now its 73rd week out of the last 74 as a Top 40 hit single. But for a Christmas-enforced dip to No.63 back in January, it would actually be the record holder by some distance.
We are at the point now where whichever way you spin it, Rein Me In is now arguably the biggest chart hit of all time. This is something which has now captured the attention of the chart writers at Billboard in America. Olivia Dean is a superstar over there just as here, Sam Fender somewhat less so. Rein Me In has doggedly refused to take off in America. Last week it was #83 on the Hot 100. It has yet to climb higher than #64.
Choice Made
However, not all hope is lost. After all, the song that has instead dominated the US charts for most of the spring and early summer has until very recently struggled to find a British audience of its own. Choosin' Texas by Ella Langley has first broken records of its own by refusing to budge from a lower-league chart position before taking up position just outside the Top 10. But in the past few weeks the dam has finally broken. No.9 for the last fortnight, the C&W ballad advances now to yet another new peak of No.5. It thus moves up the slow-burning records table that I debuted in last week's piece (and which has since been updated with more songs that I'd at first overlooked). Choosin' Texas now reaches another new chart peak in its 26th consecutive week as a Top 75 hit single, a slow climb bettered in total by only six other singles in chart history. And in terms of consecutive weeks only beaten by - yes! - Rein Me In. In terms of Top 100 weeks it has now taken 27 of these to get this far, matching the total notched up by Need You Now by Lady Antebellum, finally a No.15 peak 14 years ago this month.
Crowd/Pitch Interface
As documented in previous weeks, sporting occasions that truly capture the public imagination have managed to spawn chart singles in sympathy. Official songs by certain teams themselves have made it to No.1 - Back Home (1970), World In Motion (1990) - while official tie-in songs such as Three Lions have also made chart waves. But the 21st century has also played host to another curious phenomenon - that of songs that have no official connection to either football or football teams but which have for one reason or another barged their way into public consciousness by association. This arguably first occurred in 2007 not via football but via rugby. Adopted as a dressing room anthem by the England team as they charged to a second straight Rugby World Cup final, The Gambler by Kenny Rogers (originally a little-regarded chart hit in 1985) stormed its way to No.22. Similarly Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond, which had been a Top 10 hit on first release in 1971 and long beloved of karaoke and pub performers, became synonymous with England football when the stadium announcer at Wembley played it in the aftermath of the side's famous victory over old rivals Germany at the Covid-delayed Euro 2020. Sweet Caroline made No.20 in 2021, No.89 in 2022 and No.44 for the last Euros in 2024.
There's no sign of Sweet Caroline this time around, largely because its status as the unofficial England team anthem has been usurped by Wonderwall by Oasis. After the side revealed it had become their dressing room rouser, fans have adopted it in force and playing of the song has formed a part of every post-match victory celebration so far. And just look what England's weekend win over Mexico has done. Wonderwall surges up the charts to No.11 and is the highest charting World Cup-connected single of the week. The song's full chart history, like so many Oasis classics, is long and storied. No.2 upon release in 1995, this is now its sixth run inside the Top 40. No.11 matches a peak it last scaled in September 2024 upon the announcement of the big Oasis reunion tour. By the time we next meet, England will either have seen their tournament run come to an end or will be in the World Cup final for the first time in 60 years. And this alone will determine whether Wonderwall is a Top 10 single for the first time since January 1996.
Other World Cup themed tracks continue to make waves of their own. Shakira and Burna Boy rise to No.13 with the official anthem Dai Dai, now potentially on the verge of becoming Shakira's first Top 10 single in 17 years. Meanwhile, Three Lions is up to No.21 because of course it is.
No Deaths Reported
She may not have the biggest new album of the week (we'll come to that one in due course), but the utterly magnificent Sienna Spiro is a very creditable No.2 with her debut release Visitor. This has prompted her to pepper the singles chart in a pleasingly unexpected manner. Her biggest hit of the week is actually soundtrack hit Material Lover (which features only on the deluxe edition of Visitor). Transcending its origins as part of The Devil Wears Prada 2, the track is now 10 weeks old and dips to No.15, one place below the peak it scaled last time out. It is however joined in the Top 20 by Die On This Hill, her biggest hit to date when it twice peaked at No.9 either side of Christmas and which is now back to No.19. The album's title track made No.11 when released as a teaser single back in March, but it doesn't quite have the legs to make a chart return. Instead, a new cut, Great Expectation, debuts at No.32 as her fifth Top 40 hit single.
Some Will Win
The week's actual highest new entry is a fun oddity. Don't Stop Believin' by American rockers Journey makes a surprise chart comeback as it lands at No.27. Originally released in 1982, this is actually a track which deserves belated addition to the slow burners table. After being revived in 2009, first as the soundtrack to the climax of TV series The Sopranos and then subsequently in the wake of a cover by Glee Cast, the soft rock classic reached its all-time peak of No.6 in January the following year - its 22nd week as a Top 75 single and its 42nd on the Top 100. This 2026 return can also be seen as World Cup related, the US national team having adopted it as an anthem of their own.
Every Little Thing
Given the noise surrounding its release, it should hardly come as a surprise that the No.1 album of the week belongs to Madonna and her Confessions II album. As the title suggests, it is a companion to her 2005 Confessions On A Dancefloor album, and it follows that and a suitably large number of her other records to the top of the charts. Albeit her first since MDNA way back in 2012. A 14 year gap between No.1 albums means it has been a long time since we've had cause to resurrect the old argument over just how many times the legendary singer has been to the top of the albums charts. Her official total is now 13 - although, as I am fond of pointing out, you only reach that total by retconning 1995's Evita movie soundtrack as one of "her" albums - something even the charts of the time did not reflect.
In any event, in a week where a great many records have been set there is at least time for one more. Madonna this week becomes the first US female star to top the charts with an album in five different decades, Madonna now able to boast No.1 albums in the 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s and now the 20s.
The album also spawns its second chart single, Danceteria debuting at No.38 to become her 41st Top 40 single. Her 40th was the Sabrina Carpenter collaboration Bring Your Love which reached No.29 earlier this year.
Oddities
Keep an eye out too for Robyn's 2010 No.8 single Dancing On My Own which re-debuts at No.43 following its use in the Netflix movie Voicemails For Isabelle. And to finally bring matters full circle, as we mentioned Drake's 15 week No.1 single One Dance earlier, a track that it notably sampled - Do You Mind by Kyla - is this week's No.58 as it finally reaches the charts after several months of TikTok popularity. It originally peaked at No.48 in 2009.
