Sam Fender and Olivia Dean make chart history as Rein Me In breaks 73-year record for most weeks at UK number one

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean have done it - their hit single Rein Me In has beaten the record for most weeks at the top of the charts in the UK.

The duet has now spent 19 non-consecutive weeks at number one in the Official Charts, breaking a record set more than 70 years ago in 1953, by Frankie Laine's I Believe.

Rein Me In is a song by Fender which featured on his third album, last year's Mercury Prize winner People Watching.

It was re-released as a duet with Dean in June 2025. A slow-burner, it hovered mainly in the top 20 for months before first topping the chart in February this year.

That ascent in itself gave the song a record - for the longest climb to the top in UK chart history.

Since its first week at number one, the song has only shifted down on a handful of occasions, thanks to releases by heavy-hitters Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift, but it has always made it back to the summit.

Accepting a special record breaker award as Rein Me In held off competition from Shakira and Burna Boy's World Cup hit Dai Dai to stay in the top spot once again this week, Fender told Official Charts he was "completely lost for words".

He also thanked Dean and all their fans "for making this song the juggernaut that it is".

Rein Me In was named song of the year at the Brit Awards, winning over other shortlisted tracks including big hits such as Raye's Where Is My Husband!, Messy, by Lola Young, and Dean's own Man I Need.

Dean was the big winner at the ceremony, taking home four gongs in total. She also collected her first Grammy at the beginning of the year.

Earlier this week, her 2025 album, The Art Of Loving, was announced as one of the 12 shortlisted for this year's Mercury Prize - which Fender won last year.

The big chart hitters

Famously in the 1990s, there were two huge long-running chart hits - Bryan Adams' 1991 hit (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, from the Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves soundtrack, and Wet Wet Wet's cover of Love Is All Around, from Four Weddings And A Funeral.

Adams' song, which topped the UK chart for 16 weeks in a row in 1991, remains the longest consecutively-reigning number one.

Earlier this month, when Rein Me In took the record for longest-running British number one from Wet Wet Wet, the band - now made up of Graeme Clark, Graeme Duffin and vocalist Kevin Simm - congratulated the duo, telling Sky News: "It's great to see amazing British artists continuing to produce songs that connect with so many people."

Other songs to have spent more than 10 weeks at the top spot in the UK, consecutively or otherwise, include One Dance by Drake, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Dance Monkey by Tones And I, and two for Ed Sheeran - Shape Of You and Bad Habits.

Congratulating Fender and Dean on their success, Becca Monahan and Chris Austin, interim co-managing directors of Official Charts, said it was "an extraordinary, history-making" achievement.

"For Rein Me In to break a record that has stood for 73 years is remarkable in itself, but it feels especially significant to see two homegrown British artists write a new chapter in Official Chart history together," they said.

"Sam and Olivia are both exceptional talents, and the incredible connection Rein Me In has made with audiences speaks to the strength and ambition of British music today."

(c) Sky News 2026: Sam Fender and Olivia Dean make chart history as Rein Me In breaks 73-year r