Last week, Taylor Swift released the special edition of her last album and placed three tracks in the top 5, while nobody wanted to risk going up against her. This week, Drake releases the special edition of his album…

1. Taylor Swift – “Patient Zero” 

Two weeks. Apparently Taylor Swift really cares about maximising her time at number one, because a batch of around 11,000 pre-ordered CD singles were released to fans ahead of schedule this week when it looked like she might need them to hold on. In the event, she did need them – if they’d shipped in the release week, she would have been number 2 behind Sienna Spiro. Swift has form for this – she did the same thing to get herself two weeks at number 1 with “I Knew It, I Knew You”.

The two other new tracks don’t fare so well. Both of them fall below “The Fate of Ophelia”, which re-enters at number 17. “Babylon” drops from number 4 to number 28; “Cleveland”, which was number 3 last week, vanishes entirely under the three song rule.

As for Drake, it turns out that he doesn’t even get the highest new entry.

16. Noah Kahan – “Draw You Out”

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In which Taylor Swift releases the special edition of her last album and everyone else stays out of her way.

1. Taylor Swift – “Patient Zero”
3. Taylor Swift – “Cleveland”
4. Taylor Swift – “Babylon”

These are from the special edition of “The Life of a Showgirl”, which duly returns to number 1 for a fifth week. There are four new tracks on the album, but the three song limit excludes “Pink Clouding”. “Patient Zero” is the official single. It’s decent enough for a midtempo Taylor Swift track that didn’t make the main album, though I could live without that bridge section.

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We don’t have much going on in terms of new entries, but at least we’ve got some tracks making progress up the chart.

1. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectation”

Three weeks, though needless to say, it would still be behind “Rein Me In” if they were on a level playing field. She also has “Die On This Hill” just outside the top 10 as it comes up for its first anniversary in a couple of weeks, and “Pure” is still making progress, climbing to 28 this week.

29. Cloonee & Prospa featuring Tristan Henry – “Good Girl”

The follow-up to “Free Your Mind”, finally reaching the top 40 after two months of climbing from the lower reaches. The previous single was credited to Prospa & Cloonee, while this one is credited to Cloonee & Prospa. We can only imagine the delicate negotiations involved.

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Well, we do have a couple of new entries for actual new releases…

1. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectations” 

Two weeks, although if the ACR rule wasn’t a thing, “Rein Me In” would still be way ahead of it. She still has three tracks in the top 40 – “Die On This Hill” climbs back to number 10 in its 36th week on the top 40, while “Pure” is clinging on at number 39. By current chart standards, “Great Expectations” is a relative newcomer at a mere eleven weeks on chart.

15. Adéla – “Nicole Kidman”

This is her second hit, following on from “Ain’t In LA”, which is currently at number 13. The parent album also got to number 2 last week. So Adéla seems to have managed a legitimate breakthrough in the 2026 market, and that’s tough. The video above is not remotely subtle, but the track’s actually pretty good, and I do think there’s more going on here than with someone like Tate McRae – though Adela tracks do also have a slight tendency to lapse into generic you-go-girl lyrics in verse 2.

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At last, turnover!

1. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectation”

This has taken ten weeks to climb to number 1, which is positively sprightly by 2026 standards. Of course, there’s an asterisk here – if “Rein Me In” wasn’t subject to downweighting, it would be thrashing this track with a margin of more than a third. But you can make a fair case that the aim of that rule isn’t just to speed up the charts, it’s to attach less weight to tracks that are just hanging around on playlists.

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Well, the day has finally come. Last week, “Rein Me In” declined (and underperformed the market) for the third successive week. And so this week, it finally goes to ACR, ending its 23 weeks at number one, and relegating it to the gloomy depths of number 7. What exciting new music has this cleared the way for?

1. Ella Langley – “Choosin’ Texas” 

Oh. Right. Well, it’s not been number one before, I suppose. But it’s been on the top 40 for 31 weeks now, again without being relegated to ACR. She’s not a one-hit wonder – “Be Her” also charted a few weeks ago, and it’s currently at number 30. This is also the current US number one, though as a country song, international interest is not a given. The ponderous official video above doesn’t do it any favours either – if you’re going to talk over half the song, at least hire some people who can act.

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I know, this is getting predictable.

1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In”

Twenty-three weeks at number one. Sixty-two weeks on the top 40. But wait… at last, at long last, “Rein Me In” has fallen by more than the market average for three weeks in a row. This means that next week it goes to ACR, and its streaming points will be halved. And while it still has a huge lead over the number 2 single, it’s not that huge. If it had been on ACR this week, it would have been at number 6. So, barring a miracle, this is it.

9. Dolly Parton – “Jolene”
12. Dolly Parton – “9 to 5”
13. Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers – “Islands in the Stream” 

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Altogether now…

1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In” 

Twenty-two weeks at number one, and still miles ahead of any competition. It has dropped more than the market for two weeks in a row, though, so there is a possibility that next week could be the last before it goes to ACR. We’ve said that before, though.

In terms of new entries, it’s a very quiet week.

16. Katseye – “Hootie Frutti”

This is the release week single from their 16-minute EP “Wild”, which technically qualifies for the album chart and enters there at number 2 – their first appearance on the album chart, as their debut “Beautiful Chaos” missed the top 40 last year. There are a lot of physical variants contributing to that position.

The video features two of the most laughably incongruous product placement shots you’ve ever seen. It does, however, tie “Animal” as their highest-debuting single. And perhaps more interestingly, “Animal” itself climbs to number 12 this week, the first time a Katseye single has actually improved on his debut position.

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Okay, it’s late in the week, let’s see if we can do this one quickly.

1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In” 

Twenty-one interminable weeks. It is dropping off now that the publicity from breaking the record has passed, though, so it’s probably only a matter of time before it finally, finally, goes to ACR and gets removed from number 1.

8. Madonna & Kylie Minogue – “Love Sensation” 

With a combined age of over 125, this is the single remix of a track from Madonna’s recent album. Unusually, it’s here almost entirely on sales, and two thirds of those are CDs. The midweeks have it vanishing. Still, the track’s not bad at all, and it suits Kylie.

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Oh god, it’s going to be here forever.

1. Sam Fender & Olivia Dean – “Rein Me In”

Twenty weeks. Last week, it set an all time record for the longest run at number one; the publicity from that has resulted in a sales boost, and so once again it’s off the hook for potential downweighting for another few weeks. It continues to have 20% lead over the number 2 single, and it simply can’t be stopped.

It’s maybe worth mentioning that while this sort of rein is unheard of on the singles chart, it’s not so exceptional where the album chart is concerned. Adele’s “21” had 23 weeks as the album number 1, and the South Pacific soundtrack was number 1 for the entirety of 1959.

4. Ariana Grande – “Petal”
15. Ariana Grande – “Kiss Me”

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