Jul 18

Charts – 17 July 2026

Posted on Saturday, July 18, 2026 by Paul in Music

Ah, it’s one of those charts. The chart week covers data from Friday to Thursday, and so most of this week’s chart cover a period when the English were extremely excited about the football, and listening to lots of songs connected with the football, and then with one day left in the chart week, they got knocked out. So then the chart is published on Friday and, uh, yeah.

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

But first! “Rein Me In” spends a 17th week at number one. It only needs one more week to tie the all time record set by Frankie Laine’s “I Believe” in 1953. It nudged its chart points up again this week – partly because it shipped a few thousand 7 inch singles, but it didn’t need those to have a commanding leads over the number 2 single. This means it can’t go to downweighting in the next few weeks and its chances of breaking the record look very good indeed.

Right, football…

20. Fat Les – “Vindaloo”

This spent three weeks at number 2 during the 1998 World Cup, behind “Three Lions”. Fat Lest was a collaboration of Alex James (the bass player from Blur), actor Keith Allen (Lily’s father), and artist Damien Hirst; they also released some other singles, with diminishing returns. I truly, deeply hate “Vindaloo”. It doesn’t travel beyond England, and that’s fair enough, but to me it embodies everything that was smug and ironic about the 1990s.

24. The Beatles – “Hey Jude”

It’s not just songs that are specifically about football – we’re also getting songs that lend themselves to terrace chanting. This was number 1 for two weeks in 1968.

26. Shakira featuring Freshlyground – “Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)”

This, admittedly, is an odd one. It reached number 37 four weeks ago and now re-enters at 26, despite having nothing to do with either England or the current World Cup. I can only assume it’s showing up on some generic football playlists and getting some repeat plays due to being actually decent.

29. Bonnie Tyler – “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

Bonnie Tyler died earlier in the month at the age of 75. This was her only UK number 1, getting two weeks in 1983. It’s clearly her signature song, though you might have expected a bit of attention for “Holding Out For A Hero” as well. She only had seven top 40 hits in total, spanning 1976 to 1985, but there’s no denying that this is a classic. I do have a soft spot for the Hurra Torpedo version, though.

30. Olivia Rodrigo – “Honeybee”

The only actual new entry this week, and even this is really just an album track that was previously starred out under the three song rule. It’s a rather pretty ballad, and not the sort of album track you might have expected to make the top 40 – it was released as a promotional single in June. However, it’s having success internationally, so we may well see it grow.

35. Neil Diamond – “Sweet Caroline”

Right, back to the terraces. This is one of those songs that it’s almost impossible to actually hear as a song any more; it’s a meme, really. It reached number 8 on release in 1971, and he had several bigger hits at the time.

This week’s climbers:

“Wonderwall” by Oasis climbs 11-2, which matches its original peak.
“Three Lions” by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner & The Lightning Seeds climbs 21-3. You see what I mean.
“Talk To You” by ANTOR & 54 Ultra climbs 14-4 – it must be on course for a number 2 place next week when the football tracks will have gone.
“Dai Dai” by Shakira & Burna Boy climbs 13-5. She hasn’t had a top 10 hit since “She Wolf” in 2009, and Burna Boy hasn’t had one since “Last Last” in 2022.
“Free Your Mind” by Prospa & Cloonee climbs 10-7.
“Material Lover” by Sienna Spiro climbs 15-14.
“On 2Nite” by Silva Bumpa climbs 18-15. Technically this now has a video but, uh, only just.
“Movin’ To The Sun” by Hugel, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté climbs 22-16. Similarly, this now has a video, but a very minimal one.
“Boston” by Stella Lefty climbs 20-18, returning to a previous peak.
“Great Expectation” by Sienna Spiro climbs 32-22 in its second week.

There are seven tracks entering the top 40 (the six listed above, plus a re-entry for Alyssa Grace’s “Bloodstream” at number 36). The tracks making way for them are… a surprisingly high-powered bunch, actually.

“Lush Life” by Zara Larsson, which has been with us since May, and peaked at 3.
“Dracula” by Tame Impala, which re-entered in February and peaked at 2, spending twelve weeks in the top 10.
“Aperture” by Harry Styles, which re-entered at 25 four weeks ago.
“Fever Dream” by Alex Warren, which has been with us since March and spend 11 weeks in the top 10, peaking at number 3.
“Danceteria” by Madonna, after a single week at number 38.
“Drop Dead” by Oliva Rodrigo, a former number 1 that gets disqualified under the three song rule after dropping below “Honeybee”.
“Cinderella” by Mac Miller featuring Ty Dolla Sign, which had a five week run peaking at 21.

On the album chart:

1. The Rolling Stones – “Foreign Tongues”

Their 25th studio album and their 15th number 1. The band’s average age is now over 80.

2. My Chemical Romance – “Danger Days – The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys”

Reissue of their 4th album, though I’m not quite sure why, since it’s not an anniversary – it came out 16 years ago. It only got to number 14 at the time

5. December 10 – “On Your Side”

December 10 were the band formed by Simon Cowell’s Netflix show The Next Act (no, me neither). They’ve struggled to make any headway, with their highest placed single getting to number 68. This is a 25-minute record being billed as an EP; and yes, the track above is a Djo cover. It’s perfectly competent but adds nothing.

6. Bring Me The Horizon – “Count Your Blessings – Repented”