Gotta Log 'Em All
I've a feeling that this could turn into a list special. But there is a very good reason for this. For a start, we have to talk about the whole concept of eleven weeks.
OK, so it has taken them 13 weeks to get there in a non-consecutive run, but let's overlook that detail. Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean, now just four weeks shy of its first anniversary as a chart single, this week takes one step further towards chart infamy. And it is now unambiguously the male/female duet with the longest run at No.1 in chart history.
If you thought the list of 10-week No.1 singles was short, the list of those which have made it to at least 11 is shorter still. Rein Me In has now been at the top of the charts longer than all but eleven other singles in chart history, namely:
I Believe by Frankie Laine (18 non-consecutive weeks)
Everything I Do (I Do It For You) by Bryan Adams (16 weeks)
Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet (15 weeks)
One Dance by Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla (15 weeks)
Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (14 non-consecutive weeks)
Shape Of You by Ed Sheeran (14 non-consecutive weeks)
Ordinary by Alex Warren (13 non-consecutive weeks)
Rose Marie by Slim Whitman (11 weeks)
Despacito by Luis Fonsi (11 non-consecutive weeks) - (I missed this from last week's list, apologies).
Dance Monkey by Tones & I (11 weeks)
Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran (11 weeks)
Actually, there is another to add to the list which I also failed to mention last week, as it has notched up the total under the radar so to speak. And under circumstances which really don't belong in "regular" chart stats. But for the record, we have to note that Last Christmas by Wham has also managed 12 weeks at the top of the charts in total - the last of these coming in the final chart of last year.
The Last Christmas factor also wrecks calculations about the best-performing three-peating No.1 singles. Only six other normal pop hits have ever rebounded twice to the top of the charts and so spent at least three separate spells at the summit. And so, with zero apologies for this being the second list of the week, they are:
I Believe by Frankie Laine (9, 6 and 3 weeks)
Happy by Pharrell Williams (1, 2 and 1 weeks)
What Do You Mean by Justin Bieber (1, 2 and 2 weeks)
Despacito by Luis Fonsi (6, 3 and 2 weeks)
Blinding Lights by The Weeknd (2, 3 and 3 weeks)
Golden by Huntr/X (1, 7 and 2 weeks)
From the above, you can deduce that no single has ever spent longer than 3 weeks at No.1 in its third spell at the top, a total that Rein Me In has now matched with No.1 runs of 3+5+3. The technical exception to this record - damn them - is Last Christmas which has been No.1 seven different times with weekly runs of 1, 1, 1, 4, 3, 1 and 1. But as the only single in history to have even a fourth stint at the top it is kind of in a category of its own.
Fang Fang
A word needs saying about Tame Impala's Dracula. He and his invisible friend JENNIE appear destined to be one of the great runner-up tracks. This is now the track's seventh straight week as a Top 5 single and its third in total as the No.2 hit. It doesn't actually deserve to have ever been No.1; its sales generally hovering around the 35,000 mark, some distance behind the leaders. But you are still allowed to feel sorry.
There, is that enough stats to cover the fact that there are precious few songs at the top end of the charts whose actual musical qualities we haven't already discussed to death? The Top 10 is by no means becalmed, as it looks very different to the way it did two or three weeks ago. But we still aren't overwhelmed by anything new.
Shambo!
Let's continue to talk about Michael Jackson. Doing what all streaming-reliant albums do and sneaking in at the last moment, The Essential is top of the Official UK Albums chart for the second week running, this week's bridesmaids no less a bunch of legends than Westlife whose own new hits compilation 25 - The Ultimate Collection has to content itself with being No.2. Its title relates to the fact that it ties in with their 25th anniversary world tour which began last year and extends to the end of this. The 25th anniversary of what isn't specified, given their first hit singles were released in 1999.
Sorry, where was I? Michael Jackson. The late superstar now has three hits in the Top 10. Billie Jean edges up a place to No.3, Beat It is now No.5 (two places shy of its original 1983 peak) but the pair are now joined by a brand new arrival - a track that, extraordinarily, has never been a proper hit single in this country before.
Six tracks from Jackson's celebrated Thriller album were released as singles in Europe. The Girl Is Mine, Billie Jean, Beat It, Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) and the title track itself. But in America there was a seventh: Human Nature climbed to No.7 on the Hot 100, also in 1983. But until today, its only British chart run was a semi-apologetic climb to No.62 in the wake of the singer's death in 2009. For all that, it is still seen as one of his all-time classics, is hardly unfamiliar, and indeed formed the basis of a 1993 smash hit remix of SWV's Right Here which interpolated the Steve Porcaro-penned melody to memorable effect.
So perhaps there is a sense of justice. Human Nature this week belatedly becomes the seventh track from Thriller (this week's No.5 album) to reach the UK Top 10. The fact that Sony have belatedly thrown together a video for it is probably not unrelated. This is in a not dissimilar fashion to the way Man In The Mirror belatedly became the seventh from Bad when it became the biggest of the slew of Jackson hits to chart in that very memorable week in 2009. Which until now I've not linked directly back to - so go check it out from the archives here when you are done with this week's fact parade.
Human Nature qualifies for the chart by dint of outstreaming Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough and taking over as Jackson's third most-popular track. The former is actually only just behind and is itself starred-out of a place in the Top 10. The chance of the two of them doing the chart hokey-cokey next week should not be ruled out.
Stars And Guitars
The most startling jump of the week is that of Go from The Chemical Brothers. The little-regarded Top 40 miss from fully 11 years ago is now a certified Top 10 smash as it vaults 22-7 following its revival on the Apex soundtrack. The track thus belatedly becomes the duo's 8th Top 10 hit single, their first since Galvanize peaked at No.3 in January 2005 fully twenty years ago. Whether a track from the tail end of their singles chart career is worthy of being added to the pantheon of their most famous hits (which include two No.1 singles) is at least a three-point argument. But it is still extraordinary to see it here.
But all this means is that this week we are faced with the extraordinary fact that fully half of the Official UK Singles chart Top 10 is occupied by songs that are at least a decade old - something we only ever expect to see at Christmas. Shall we have yet another list? Well why not. The parade of this week's oldies and their original year of release:
Billie Jean (1983)
Beat It (1983)
Human Nature (1983)
Go (2015)
Beauty And A Beat (2012)
Plus we can also note the continuing presence of Lush Life (2015) which is edged out at No.11.
Of the five remaining Top 10 hits, the Top 2 (Rein Me In and Dracula) were both released and indeed began their extended chart runs LAST year. There are many people in the music industry whose job in theory is to break new hits and bring new music to the fore. But they must all be contemplating their lives right now.
Movers And Shakers
For newer up-and-coming hits we once more have to look lower, although not quite as low as last week. Breaching the Top 20 at long last is club banger Free Your Mind from Prospa and Cloonee which now hits a new peak of No.20. Although it still doesn't have a proper video to speak of, not even a visualiser. Just behind is Malcolm Todd's Earrings which yes, OK, was first released two years ago is also up to a new peak of No.21. My personal favourite of the trio that we've been monitoring for the past few weeks is Talk To You by Anotr and 54 Ultra. But that alas has stalled and dips a place to No.29.
Devlish
Brand new to the Top 40 is the latest cut from the always glorious Sienna Spiro. Material Lover rockets from No.67 up to No.23 - propelled by love for The Devil Wears Prada 2 on whose soundtrack it features. Her last hit The Visitor was damn unlucky never to progress beyond its original No.11 entry point, but this week it becomes a halo hit of sorts, reversing its steady decline since release to re-enter the Top 40 at No.33.
Meanwhile back on the subject of golden oldies, Katy Perry's revived The One That Got Away still continues to grow virally and returns to the Top 40 for the first time in 14 years as it shifts up a gear to reach No.30.
Xtra Charlie
There was a time when all this column did was assess the parade of Top 40 new entries. Because nothing else really mattered. In 2026 however the biggest new hit of the week becomes the last thing left to talk about (almost). It was furthermore a track nobody was expecting. Charli XCX entered the chat last Thursday with the surprise drop of her new track Rock Music and now enters the charRt at No.36. Really quite disconcertingly lower than midweek sales flashes suggested.
We should end another epic with a New Religion update. Bebe Rexha's Faithless-sampling almost a hit is up to No.48 this week in its tenth week of not being a Top 40 hit single. And meanwhile last week's over-hyped Madonna and Sabrina duet plunges 29-67. Bring Your Love has not brought the streaming.
Don't fret, next week is going to be utterly manic. It is the annual post-Eurovision chart next week. That should be good for a handful of new hits. Ones that don't involve Drake in any way at least. Just be glad Cup Final songs aren't a thing any more. Or even World Cup ones for that matter.
