How long can a song stay at No.1 on the UK charts? The old answer was 18 weeks, a record set by Frankie Laine's "I Believe" back in 1953 that stood untouched for 73 years. Now that record belongs to Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's collaborative track "Rein Me In," which is still sitting at No.1 in its 19th week.
The song's rise was actually a slow burn. "Rein Me In" originally appeared on Fender's February 2025 album *People Watching*, with Dean's featured vocals added to the track later that June. From there, the song climbed steadily until it finally hit No.1 this February, then went on to win Song of the Year at the 2026 BRIT Awards—and it's barely left the top spot since.
What makes this run especially wild is everything that happened around it. During "Rein Me In"'s 19-week reign, only four songs managed to briefly steal the No.1 spot—and each one held it for exactly one week: Harry Styles' "American Girls," Olivia Rodrigo's "Drop Dead," Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me," and Taylor Swift's "I Knew It, I Knew You." In other words, some of the biggest names in music have taken their turns at the top over these past few months, but none of them could hold on for more than a week.
Speaking to the Official Charts Company, Fender said he was "completely lost for words," thanking Olivia Dean and fans for turning the song into "a monster," adding, "I can't believe we've broken a UK record." Dean, meanwhile, celebrated the milestone during her headline set at Lollapalooza, bringing Fender out on stage to perform the track together—marking the first time the pair had performed the song live in the US.
Frankie Laine's 73-year-old record didn't get broken by a sudden smash hit—it took a duet that started life as a bonus album cut and slowly grew into the hardest song to dethrone in Britain.
