For Every Drop Of Rain
Well, that was tense.
This was one of those weeks where the early sales flashes teased a surprise, a changing of the guard (at last) at the top of the charts – albeit one which would be by the narrowest of narrow margins. But in the end consistency won the day and the status quo prevailed – and by what is on the surface of things a more comfortable margin than expected.
There are reasons for this, but let's not get distracted. The most significant detail of all is that Rein Me In performed by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean is the No.1 single in the UK for the sixth week in a row and the 19th week in total. In doing so it finally shatters a record which has stood for an astonishing 73 years, the longest-running No.1 single in history. We have spent so long anticipating this moment that its arrival almost feels anticlimactic, but nonetheless these are words I never imagined I would end up writing. I Believe by Frankie Laine is no longer the ultimate in No.1 singles.
Overall streaming consumption of the track is actually now well on the slide, to the extent that (admittedly not for the first time) the ACR clock of Rein Me In has now ticked twice. One more week of this and it will be knocked of its perch for good. But the reason the track moved from 200-300 copies in deficit to an eventual lead over its nearest competitor of almost 2,500 was entirely down to good old-fashioned sales. Digital downloads to be precise, prompted by a social media campaign by interested parties, urging folks to nudge the song over the line and help it break the record. According to Music Week, Rein Me In sold 3,865 copies online last week – and all but 562 of them were made on Thursday.
So that was cheeky, but every little helps after all. But for that nudge we would almost certainly not be talking of a record being broken but instead marvelling at Dai Dai by Shakira and Burna Boy ascending to the top of the charts. You can see why it was important for the label to astroturf things in this way. Next week it seems almost certain that a track from Ariana Grande's new album will gatecrash the singles chart, and combined with the ever attendant risk of ACR there is a good chance that if Rein Me In hadn’t landed its 19th week at the summit this week then it probably never would have done.
If anything, that's probably the more interesting story.
We've Chosen Too
It isn't just the British charts that are gummed up with long-running hit singles that refuse to die. Over in America Choosin' Texas by Ella Langley has just clocked up its 15th week at the top of the Hot 100, and just like here is now challenging for some impressive all-time records. The country track continues to expand its reach here and this week ascends to yet another brand new peak of No.3. This is the track's 29th week in total on the Top 75, meaning we can update the list of "slow burners" first published here four weeks ago. The list of non-Christmas tracks that have taken the largest number of chart weeks to reach their ultimate peaks now reads as follows:
46 weeks (total). Heat Waves by Glass Animals - No.5 in October 2021
42 weeks (total). Thriller by Michael Jackson - No.9 in November 2025
39 weeks (total). A Thousand Years by Christina Perri - No.11 in September 2013
35 weeks (consecutively) Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean - No.1 in 2026
29 weeks (consecutively) Choosin' Texas by Ella Langley
28 weeks (total). White Lines (Don’t Do It) by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel - No.7 in 1984
28 weeks (total). Perfect by Ed Sheeran - No.1 in 2017
Once more with the added footnote that Thriller probably also doesn't qualify here, it too being a seasonal perennial which continues to have many opportunities to improve on its all-time best.
The otherwise becalmed nature of the Top 10 does at least enjoy one ripple – the 11-7 rise of Movin' To The Sun by Hugel, Imael Angel and Ultra Nate, the latter now with only the third Top 10 single of her career and her first since 1998.
Internet Girls
The highest new entry of the week belongs to Katseye, the Netflix-sponsored international girl group whom certain people are determined to turn into proper superstars despite the vanishingly brief nature of their chart singles. Animal is new at No.16 this week, their second Top 20 hit single of the year, albeit one that opens two places lower than its immediate predecessor Pinky Up (although in between they also participated on all-star collaborative hit Iconic By Mistake which peaked at No.22). Their problem for now remains an inability to properly cross over beyond initial release hype. With the honourable exception of semi-viral 2025 single Gabriela, every single one of their chart hits to date has peaked on its opening show – just like all the K-pop acts whose template the six women have followed.
Boom and Claps
Another record of a kind is also set this week on the Official UK Albums chart. Charli XCX pulls off the remarkable trick of topping the charts with two different albums in the same calendar year – in the process becoming the first British woman ever to do so. Less than six months after her Wuthering Heights album reached the summit her eighth studio album proper Music, Fashion, Film also storms to the top of the listings, handing the now veteran star her fourth No.1 record.
The new record follows the usual pattern with recent Charli XCX records, the albums themselves making a big splash but with chart singles rather slower burners. Hence the album's biggest cut is Camera which debuts at No.22 on the singles chart as the second highest new entry of the week. But that isn't to say it - or perhaps one of its companions – won't climb any further. She has this habit of surprising everyone.
Lawyer Up
Also new to the Top 40 – brand new at that - is the invigorating Sue Me by Audrey Hobert which finally peeps over the parapet at No.40 after eight weeks slowly edging its way up the listings. It is the 27-year-old American's first chart single as a performer, although her biggest claim to fame until now was collaborating with Gracie Abrams on songwriting duties for her The Secret Of Us album – including its No.1 hit single That's So True.
Keep Up Grandad
Why do I welcome this so much as a new hit? Because, chart fan, the lower end of the Top 40 remains well and truly gummed up with a wild selection of back catalogue hits that yes, have most all ended up revived for their own individual reasons, but which remain utterly unrepresentative of the music of 2026.
The full parade of vintage hits (and their year of first release) at the lower end of the Top 40 amounts to:
Sign Of The Times by Harry Styles (2017)
The One That Got Away by Katy Perry (2011)
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (1983)
Don’t Stop Believin' by Journey (1982)
Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) by Shakira (2010)
Dancing On My Own by Robyn (2010)
Mr Brightside by The Killers (2004)
On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez/Pitbull (2011)
Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield (2004)
Add in the presence of Wonderwall by Oasis inside the Top 20 still, and that's fully one quarter of this week's Top 40 occupied by what you might term golden oldies. Meanwhile the No.1 single is a record that's been on the charts for well over a year.
Next week is Ariana Grande week. I must say I'm rather looking forward to it.
