You know, I think we might finally be rid of “Rein Me In”.

1. Taylor Swift – “I Knew It, I Knew You”

This is from the soundtrack of Toy Story 5, and yes, this collection of clips from previous Toy Story films is the official video. It’s a song written specifically for the film, from Jessie’s perspective. Taylor Swift doing her best Randy Newman, basically.

It’s her seventh UK number one single. The others are “Look What You Made Me Do” (2017), “Anti-Hero” (2022), “Is It Over Now (Taylor’s Version” (2023), “Fortnight” (2024), “Opalite” (2025) and “The Fate of Ophelia” (2025). The list skews very heavily to the later part of her career, though there’s a degree of bad luck in there, since she had number 2 hits in 2009, 2012 and 2014.

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Look, someone can beat “Rein Me In”!

1. Ariana Grande – “Hate That I Made You Love Me”

This is the lead single from her eighth album, and her eighth number 1. The others are “Problem” (2014), “Bang Bang” (2014), “Thank U, Next” (2018), “7 Rings” (2019), “Break Up With Your Girlfriend I’m Bored” (2019), “Rain On Me” (2020) and “Positions” (2020). She’s been unlucky not to add more since then – she’s reached number 2 twice.

There is an asterisk here: it didn’t actually beat “Rein Me In” in streaming. It’s number 1 by a margin of under 5,000 copies thanks to first-week sales to fans in download and physical format. And that’s with “Rein Me In” dropping off quite heavily this week. There’s still a huge gap between “Rein Me In” and the rest of the chart, but it’s unlikely to return to number 1 next week, since Taylor Swift has a new single out.

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You know the drill by now.

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

Not only is it seemingly unbeatable, but its streams surged again last week, so it’s still in no danger of going to downweighting – in its 49th week on the top 40 and its 13th week at number 1, it remains 30% ahead of the number 2 single. The most likely explanation for the surge is Olivia Dean headlining Radio 1’s Big Weekend festival.

It’s easier to have long runs at number 1 than it used to be, because nothing is deleted any more, and we’re measuring continuing listening rather than the initial purchase. Even so, 13 weeks is exceptional. Only six tracks have ever spent more than that at number 1. The all time record has stood at 18 weeks since 1953, and is held by Frankie Laine’s “I Believe”. But one more week will place “Rein Me In” in joint fifth alongside Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

2. Olivia Rodrigo – “The Cure”

This is the second single from her next album; the first one, “Drop Dead”, had a single week at number 1 (interrupting “Rein Me In”), but it’s holding up respectably, and it’s still in the top 10 after six weeks. “The Cure” is an interesting choice of single – it’s over five minutes long and sounds more like Boygenius at times. I like it, but it says something about Olivia Rodrigo’s star power that she can get something like this as high as number 2.

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Sorry, you want me to listen to how many Drake tracks?

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

Twelve weeks. It needs one more to match Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”. If it gets past that marker, then the next target is Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” from 2017. As it happens, it’s not on course to be number 1 in the Sunday “first look” chart, but that’s because a new release by Olivia Rodrigo has a marginal lead over it; my guess is that “Rein Me In” will sustain itself better. It is dropping, but it still has a comfortable lead.

2. Drake – “Janice STFU”
3. Drake – “National Treasures”
6. Drake – “Make Them Cry”

These are the maximum three tracks from “Iceman”, which enters the album chart as his seventh number 1. Drake also released two surprise albums at the same time – “Maid of Honour”, which enters at 6, and “Habibti”, which is number 7. This seems rather like Drake’s try-hard way of proving he’s still a big deal, and to some extent he succeeds – he has three tracks in the top 10, and he would have placed another 34 tracks above the official number 75.

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Right, this is late, and it’s a busy week, so we’re going to dash through it.

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

Eleven weeks at number 1. It still needs another two weeks to match Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”. Drake is currently ahead in the midweeks, but not by a wide enough margin that I’d be confident of him hanging on until Friday. By this point “Rein Me In” has clearly peaked, but it’s still an absolute mile ahead of the competition, with a ridiculous 46% lead over Tame Impala at number 2.

6. Michael Jackson – “Human Nature”

In most countries, this was released as the fifth single from “Thriller” in 1983. In the UK, it wasn’t, and so this qualifies as a new entry and Michael Jackson’s 45th top 10 hit. It might actually be more familiar to British audiences as the sample in SWV’s “Right Here”. It has, however, been given a music video to promote the movie, which seems to have pushed it into the top three tracks being streamed on the back of the movie. “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” continue to climb, while “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” gets disqualified under the three song rule. (It would have placed at number 9.) “I Want You Back”, technically a Jackson 5 track, is also climbing.

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In some ways, this is a relatively active chart. But not particularly in terms of new release singles breaking through…

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

Ten weeks at number one, which is now incontestably a record for a duet. And even after nearly a year on release, nothing else is even remotely close to it – it has a lead of around 65% over Tame Impala at number 2.

20. Alex Warren – “Fine Place To Die”

No, it’s not a Bond theme. It’s an Alex Warren song, and back to the standard format after “Fever Dream”. This is the second single from his upcoming album, but it isn’t really competing with “Fever Dream” at number 5. “Ordinary” remains seemingly immortal, and is currently at 21 in its 64th week on the top 40. We’ve certainly got to a point where zombie records like “Ordinary”, and reactivated back catalogue, are making it very hard to actual new releases to get headway.

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This is one of those singles charts that you would struggle to describe as “healthy”.

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

Returning to number one for a second time, and a ninth week in total. Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drop Dead” was heavily front loaded to its first week – it’s still at number 2, but “Rein Me In” has a huge lead over it and is, once again, growing in streams. It’s been on the top 40 for 45 weeks now. I wasn’t aware that this was even something that anyone bothered keeping track of, but apparently nine weeks equals the record for the most weeks at number one by a male-female duet, previously held by “You’re the One That I Want” by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. (That’s unless you think “Umbrella” by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z counts, which it doesn’t. But “Rein Me In” will match it next week anyway.)

12. Noah Kahan – “Doors”
17. Noah Kahan – “The Great Divide”
20. Noah Kahan -“Porch Light” 

The maximum three tracks from Noah Kahan’s fourth album “The Great Divide”, which enters the album chart at number 1. Its predecessor “Stick Season” also reached number 1; his two previous albums were pre-breakthrough and didn’t chart.

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At last, a big new release to liberate us from Sam Fender and Olivia Dean.

1. Olivia Rodrigo – “Drop Dead”

This is the lead single from the upcoming album “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So In Love”.  It has a fairly substantial margin over “Rein Me In” at number 2, though that comes mostly from first-week physical sales. Without them, “Drop Dead” would still have been number 1 but it would have been a lot closer. It’s her fourth UK number 1 single after “Drivers Licence” (2021), “Good 4 U” (2021) and “Vampire” (2023).

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Apparently Coachella is a thing now, then.

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

Eight weeks, non-consecutive. It’s peaked in terms of sales, but that’s pretty much academic. Because it was still outperforming the market over the last couple of weeks, it has weeks to go before it might be hit by the downweighting rule. Meanwhile, Bella Kay’s “iloveitiloveitiloveit” does go to ACR this week, and that leaves “Rein Me In” with a massive lead over the new number 2 single – which, remarkably, is “Dracula” by Tame Impala in its 18th week on the top 40. The remix with Jenni from Blackpink is the most streamed version, but that’s hardly a simple explanation for why it’s doing so well – it’s not like Blackpink songs typically have this sort of staying power.

11. Justin Bieber featuring Nicki Minaj – “Beauty and a Beat”
15. Justin Bieber – “Daisies”
26. Justin Bieber – “Yukon”

The maximum three tracks for Justin Bieber, essentially because of his performance headlining Coachella. Coachella hasn’t made much of an impact on the UK singles chart in the past, as far as I can recall. But Bieber very rarely performs live, which probably adds to the interest in this.

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A virtually dead week, but let’s run through it anyway.

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

Seven weeks non consecutive. While it’s 43 weeks old and past its peak, it continues to evade the ACR downweighting rule. To go to ACR, the test isn’t simply that a track has received fewer chart points several weeks running; it has to be underperforming the market average. “Rein Me In” outperformed a weak market this week, and so it’s not going to ACR for another few weeks at least. And it has no obvious challengers – it’s 10,000 ahead of Bella Kay at number 2, and she’ll go to ACR next week.

28. Harry Styles – “Sign of the Times”

There are only three entries to the top 40 this week, and only one of them is a current release. This isn’t one of them.

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