Every Drop Of Rain
This appears to be the season for anniversaries, so let me submit another one.
It was 40 years ago this spring that I stumbled across my first ever copy of what was then the Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles, the lovingly compiled tome of every record ever to make the UK charts which in a pre-internet era was a more or less essential part of the collection of any music fan. The one I discovered on the shelves of the school library was the fifth edition, published in 1985 and covering events up to the end of 1984. And it is largely thanks to the way I devoured every last page of it starting from that particular breaktime that I'm sat writing these words to you today.
But in the appendix of tables and stats at the back, there was one particular list that seemed the most important of all. Not "most weeks on chart" which always struck me as a peculiar obsession of the compilers, but the list of the singles that had been at No.1 the longest. Two Tribes (9 weeks) was a brand new addition to the list in the fifth edition, but standing proudly at the top of it was a record that was a little more than 30 years old, but which as a part of the pre-rock and roll era of popular music already felt like ancient history.
I Believe by Frankie Laine was always an outlier even at the time. The only record in documented chart history to have gone to No.1 three times. But those three spells at the summit all added up to a quite extraordinary 18 weeks of supremacy. Between April and September 1953 It was all-conquering. OK, this was an era when the compilation of the New Musical Express singles chart was haphazard to say the least, and the veracity of the data it imparted could well be open to much question, but as far as the record books were concerned it was the canonical truth. A song released when the singles chart as a concept was only a few months old, one with which most modern audiences were unfamiliar until a cover by Robson & Jerome over 40 years later, had set a high watermark for No.1 longevity that generations later no other record could match.
In my lifetime we've watched megahits come close. Bryan Adams breaking the long-standing consecutive No.1 weeks record in 1991 was a start, but even he fell short of the all-time record. Wet Wet Wet deliberately dynamited their own chances in 1994 when they feared even the public were tiring of them. And even in the brief early years of the streaming era, when there was felt to be no immediate need to put the brakes on the popularity of long-running hits, One Dance by Drake was simply unable to go the distance.
That's an awfully large amount of context to lay down before we even arrive at this week's Official UK Singles chart. But that means there should be no doubt as to the significance of what has happened this week. Frankie Laine's unassailable, unapproachable, unthinkable chart record has, after 73 years, finally been equalled. Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean this week spends its 18th week as the UK's No.1 single.
If I Stop
Like Frankie Laine, they have had to do it in instalments. It did not actually reach No.1 until eight months into its chart run (itself a record). The song spent three weeks at the summit starting in February before surrendering the crown to American Girls by Harry Styles, if only for a single week. During this time it also won the Brit Award for 2025's best single by a British act. An award it seems poised to retain next year, unless the rules are adjusted to prevent this. After pardoning the interruption, it was back at the top for a further five-week run, this brought to an end by Olivia Rodrigo, but again only for a single week. Back at No.1 for a second five-week residency, it appeared Rein Me In's race was truly run when it took a back seat while both Ariana Grande and then Taylor Swift dominated proceedings for three weeks between them. Our heroes Sam and Livvy even fell as far as No.4 during this time.
But then normalcy was restored. Rein Me In began a fourth spell at the top of the charts, one which has persisted for the last five weeks also. 3+5+5+5=18 as any child will tell you. A child living through an era when one of the singles chart's longest-lasting all-time records has now been beaten. And which, barring any true shocks, may well be broken once and for all next time around.
People Watching
Both music and mainstream writers are still struggling to grasp just why this is. Past megahits, the biggest songs of all, have always had a popular culture touchstone of some kind, the bedrock on which their popularity clearly rested. A reason for everyone to love the song for the longest of long terms. But Rein Me In features on no movie soundtrack, it isn't connected to any public moment of celebration or sporting festival, it isn't even the topic or the soundtrack to a thousand video memes on the social media platform of choice. It's just a song, a somehow magical duet between two highly-regarded British stars. He a bluff, bearded Geordie with a voice to match, she a slightly built half-Jamaican girl from Highams Park, North London but with the honeyed vocal tones of the greatest of soul divas.
I cannot offer up any directly understandable explanation for it, save to note that Rein Me In, by whichever yardstick you choose to measure it, is easily the biggest chart single of both its own and indeed any other era. The song you heard on your summer holidays last year, is top of the charts as you go on yours this year. The song you swayed drunkenly to at the Christmas parties last December is No.1 as everyone wonders if it is time to book this year's. To borrow a phrase, this is going to ring like tinnitus for some considerable time.
Twerking Practice
The 2026 FIFA World Cup may finally be over, but the impact of it still echoes around the singles chart. This is most notably to the benefit of the only official tournament anthem to have ever been anything resembling a major smash hit. But what a hit it is. Dai Dai by Shakira and Burna Boy may have aired for the last time as the teams marched out for the final, but the song achieves what can only be assumed to be its final chart peak as it ascends majestically to the No.2.
It means the apparently ageless Colombian singer has her biggest chart single for over 19 years. Her first single to reach the Top 3, never mind second place, since her collaboration with Beyoncé on Beautiful Liar enjoyed a three-week run at No.1 in the spring of 2007. It is in all only the fifth Top 3 hit of her career, landing an extraordinary 24 years after her first. She reached No.2 in 2002 with Whenever, Wherever; No.3 later that year with the follow-up Underneath Your Clothes; and then topped the charts for the first time in 2006 in tango with Wyclef Jean on Hips Don't Lie. It speaks volumes that Dai Dai stands alongside every single one of those classics as a Shakira smash worthy of the name.
But let us not forget her Nigerian collaborator. Dai Dai marks only the second time that Burna Boy has enjoyed a Top 3 single, the only other track to feature his tones to reach this high was Own It, on which he shared co-billing with Stormzy and Ed Sheeran – a No.1 hit in the first weeks of 2020.
A performance of Dai Dai was inevitably a core part of the much-lambasted half time show at last week's World Cup Final, a which at the very least supplied more entertainment than the football match itself. I'll confess I'm surprised it did not have more of an impact on the other performers involved. For all the negativity about it its existence, it was still a showcase of pop music presented for the largest television audience of the year. Experience has shown when you put music in the middle of a television showcase, sales and streams normally result. But this week you will be hard-pressed to find any noticeable spike in interest for Madonna, BTS or Robbie Williams et al. Did people really care so little?
Gone Home
Inevitably, most things England football-related has taken a tumble. Of Three Lions and Vindaloo there is no sign (the former you will note crashing straight out of the Top 100 from last week's No.3). Hey Jude slumps 24-69, but Wonderwall by Oasis proves surprisingly resilient, sliding a mere six places to No.8. Perhaps that one last singalong as England smashed the French to take third place was the difference maker.
Elsewhere in the Top 10, Talk To You by ANOTR and 54 Ultra edges up a place to a new peak of No.3. Just below it Ella Langley's Choosin' Texas bounces back up but alas for now only to repeat its previous peak of No.5, meaning we possibly have to wait a little while longer for it to further cement its place as one of the all-time slow-burner hits.
Keep On Moving
All things being equal (pray) we should also see Movin' To The Sun by Hugel and collaborators reach the Top 10 soon. For now it is poised at the glass ceiling, up to a brand new peak of No.11. As previously noted one of those collaborators is Ultra Nate, this move now means the single is her biggest chart hit since Found A Cure was a Top 10 hit – some 28 years ago. The track is one of two hits of the moment for Frenchman Hugel, albeit far and away the biggest. His second is Jamaican (Bam Bam) on which he is co-credited with countryman Solto, the track a reworking of a 1982 dancehall track Bam Bam by Sister Nancy.
Under Pressure
We should also keep an eye on Bloodstream by Alyssa Grace which appears to have momentum behind it at long last. Having returned to the Top 40 last week it surges up to No.23 - beating the No.25 at which it debuted six weeks ago. Also note with some fascination Katy Perry's revived 2011 hit The One That Got Away which returned to the charts back in May when an extended version of its video was made available. This too refuses to go away, and is now up to a 2026 peak of No.25, just seven below its all-time high from its original chart run 15 years ago.
Bruno Mars' current Wembley Arena concert dates are having a positive effect on his music consumption – his current album The Romantic makes a 121-25 charge up the albums listing. This has also curiously prompted his 2024 duet with Lady Gaga Die With A Smile to stage yet another comeback. A few weeks short of the second anniversary of its release it charges to No.31 for its highest chart placing since February. This is now the song's 91st week as a Top 100 hit single, a chart ever-present save for a two and a half month period at the turn of this year.
No.1 on the albums chart is Gracie Abrams with her second album Daughter From Hell. This gives her own streaming hits a small filip, most notably the album's lead cut Hit The Wall which returns to the Top 40 at No.32 - it first peaked at No.18 back in May.
Behind The Scenes?
Following the World Cup half time show I was half expecting BTS to return to the chart with their 2020 hit Dynamite, after their performance of it during the spectacular – even taking the time to rewrite the lyrics to reference football rather than baseball in the second verse. There is a BTS track on the chart, but it is one from their current album. Originally charting at No.74 back in April, Normal is now No.36 following the release of an official video plus a cheap digital download.
It's Killing Me
However, the most notable Top 40 return this week goes to the track a place below at No.37. Defying all trends, gravity, analysis and logic Mr Brightside by The Killers – a No.10 hit in 2004 – is back inside the Top 40 for the first time since January 2024. The unfathomable long term appeal of the track isn't necessarily confined to the streaming era: it returned for perennial chart wanders during the download age, most notably penetrating the Top 30 for the first time since release over Christmas 2013 following an appearance by the band at that year's X Factor final. But it has been the 2020s and insanely consistent levels of streams which has turned the track into practically a chart ever-present, meaning it has to date accumulated 254 weeks on the Top 75 and a phenomenal 515 in the Top 100. But for Christmas which forces it to take a break from the visible tables each year, Mr Brightside would be the song that never goes away. It charted for 47 weeks in 2021, the same in 2022, 48 in 2023, 47 in 2024, 48 in 2025 and since the festive songs exited in January this year has been present for each of the 30 chart weeks of 2026 so far.
The UK singles chart is stuck in a very curious holding pattern. Never mind the lack of new entries, where indeed are the exciting new acts? Perhaps that is something to contemplate next week. Right now I've a pool to return to, so behave yourselves while I am away.
