Love Is All Around, which famously featured in the blockbuster British film Four Weddings and a Funeral, managed 15 consecutive weeks at Number 1 spanning June-September 1994.
Rein Me In now draws level with Canadian legend Bryan Adams’ 1991 chart behemoth (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, which still holds the title as the song with the longest consecutive Number 1 run in UK Official Chart history, with a 16-week-straight reign at the summit.
It leaves only one artist for Sam and Olivia to beat as the pair eye the title of longest-running Official Number 1 single of all time. Their competition? American crooner Frankie Laine, who holds the 73-year-long record for the longest-running Number 1 single in the UK. His song I Believe spent an unfathomable 18 weeks at the summit back in 1953.
Celebrating the news, Sam Fender tells Official Charts:
“It’s been ridiculous! Every Friday, it’s been an excuse to party. Take that, Marti Pellow!
“Olivia putting the alternative narrative on it made the song really universal – that opened the floodgates. There’s two sides to the story. And, it’s a toe tapper! It’s officially a banger!
“I’m buzzing that Rein Me In is the longest-running British single at Number 1 of all time!”
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MORE: The longest-running Official Number 1 songs in on the UK’s Official Singles Chart
Becca Monahan and Chris Austin, Interim Co-Managing Directors, Official Charts, comment:
“Few chart records have stood the test of time quite like this one. For Rein Me In to overtake Wet Wet Wet’s iconic Love Is All Around and become the longest-running Number 1 single by a British artist is a fantastic achievement.
“Sam Fender and Olivia Dean have captured the nation’s imagination with a song that has connected on an enormous scale, and 16 weeks at Number 1 reflects that impact. It’s a historic achievement for two exceptional British talents, and we are thrilled to celebrate this milestone with them.”
Honouring Sam and Olivia’s success, Wet Wet Wet tell Official Charts:
“Huge congratulations to Sam Fender and Olivia Dean. It’s great to see amazing British artists continuing to produce songs that connect with so many people.
“We’ve always been incredibly proud of what Love Is All Around achieved, and to hold that record for more than 30 years is something we never imagined when we first recorded the song. It’s been a huge part of our story ever since and we have the privilege of performing it to audiences on tour, seeing thousands of people sing every word back to us night after night.”
See the full list of songs that have spent the longest at Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart here.
Elsewhere, congratulations go to Alabama-born country star Ella Langley, who earns a personal best with breakout hit Choosin’ Texas. The tune breaks the Top 5 for the first time this week, boot scooting four places to a new peak (5).
Is it coming home? A flurry of football-adjacent tracks are on the up ahead of England’s FIFA World Cup quarter-final match against Norway this weekend.
Oasis’s Wonderwall, adopted as an anthem for footie fans, jumps 21 (11). Elsewhere, Shakira and Burna Boy’s Dai Dai, the highest-charting official FIFA World Cup song in UK chart history, shifts the goalposts once again, up five to a new peak (13). Further down, Baddiel, Skinner & Lightning Seeds’ 1996 classic Three Lions (It’s Coming Home) is still gleaming, with a 14-spot leap (21).
Song of the summer contender? ANOTR’s dance banger Talk To You featuring 54 Ultra boogies its way to a new best, up three (14).
As Visitor is named the biggest debut album by a British artist this year so far, SIENNA SPIRO finds three songs in the main standings: Material Lover holds steady in the Top 20 (15), Die On This Hill vaults 67 (19) and Great Expectation marks its maiden entry (32).
Enjoying a social media-fuelled resurgence, Journey’s enduring 1981 Don’t Stop Believin’ bounces back into the Top 40 for the first time in 16 years (27).
And finally, this week’s reigning Official Albums Chart champ Madonna banks a 74th Top 40 single with Danceteria (38).
See the full Official Singles Chart Top 100 here from 5.45pm.