Well, this isn’t exactly a surprise.

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

That’s sixteen weeks, and it continues to have a massive lead over the number two single (“Stupid Song” by Olivia Rodrigo). That passes Wet Wet Wet’s “Love Is All Around” and Drake’s “One Dance”, and draws level with Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do (I Do It For You)”. Adams did it in one go, mind you, and his record for the longest uninterrupted run at number 1 is going nowhere any time soon. Only one record has ever spent more weeks at number 1 – Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” in 1953 – and “Rein Me In” only has to manage another fortnight to match it.

That said, “Rein Me In” could finally go to downweighting next week – it’s fallen by more than the market average for two weeks in a row. There is, however, a physical 7″ single out which registers suspiciously few copies on this week’s chart, so they might be holding back distribution for next week to make sure that that doesn’t happen.

27. Journey – “Don’t Stop Believin'” 

Apparently this is being used in the football coverage or something. I wouldn’t know.

This track was released in 1981 but didn’t chart in the UK until 2009, when the version by the Glee Cast reached number 2, and the original reached number 9. It remains Journey’s only UK top 40 hit, though they did have more success on the album chart. As you might expect, the English are a bit excited about the football right now – see the climbers below.

31. Sienna Spiro – “Great Expectation”

Release week single from her debut album “Visitor”, which enters the album chart at number 2. She has the maximum three tracks from the album in the top 40 – “Material Lover” is at number 15 (one place below its peak), and “Die On This Hill” re-enters at number 19, having peaked at number 9 last year.

38. Madonna – “Danceteria”

This is a track from “Confessions II”, which enters the album chart at number 1. The lead single “Bring Your Love” reached number 29 in May, but that had Sabrina Carpenter on it. Madonna hasn’t had an entirely solo top 40 hit since 2015 (“Living For Love”). It’s her 74th top 40 hit, the first dating from 1984. Danceteria was the nightclub where Madonna was discovered; it’s one of her better recent tracks, and certainly better than the half-formed “Bring Your Love”.

“Confessions II” is her 13th number 1 album. It’s perhaps more of a surprise to see that the last one was back in 2012 – heritage acts tend to do well on the album chart, and she’s come very close on several occasions since, but without quite making it.

This week’s climbers:

• “Choosin’ Texas” by Ella Langley climbs 9-5.
• “Wonderwall” by Oasis climbs 32-11. The English do love their football.
• “Dai Dai” by Shakira & Burna Boy climbs 18-13. More football.
• “Talk To You” by ANOTR & 54 Ultra climbs 17-14.
• “Three Lions” by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner & The Lightning Seeds climbs 35-21. More football.
• “Movin’ To The Sun” by Hugel, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté climbs 31-22. It still doesn’t have a video as such, but here’s a baffling video of Hugel pressing play at a golf club.
• “My Body Isn’t Ready” by Sombr climbs 27-26.

The four tracks leaving the top 40 are:

• “iloveitiloveitiloveit” by Bella Kay, which lasted 21 weeks and spent four weeks at number 2 (all of them stuck behind “Rein Me In”).
• “Beat It” by Michael Jackson, which had a 10 week run as a re-entry, peaking at 5.
• “RMB (Ring My Bell)” by Aitch, after a single week at number 40.
• “Look At My Life” by Gracie Abrams, after a single week at number 39.

On the album chart, we’ve already covered “Confessions II” by Madonna at number 1 and “Visitor” by Sienna Spiro at number 2.

12. Deep Purple – “Splat” 

Their 24th studio album. It matches the position of its predecessor from 2024. The track above is better than I was expecting, to be honest.

28. The Shires – “Bonfire” 

Their sixth studio album, and the first to miss the top 10 – which is quite the drop off.

30. Mary in the Junkyard – “Role Model Hermit”

London indie band, debut album. They supported Wet Leg on tour last year. Worth a play, actually.