Music · London
A 73-Year Chart Record Falls — and Half of It Belongs to Haringey
Rein Me In's 19th week at Number 1 breaks Frankie Laine's 1953 record. Sam Fender shares it with Olivia Dean — north London's own, now in the history books.
Chart records this old are not supposed to fall. On the chart published 31 July, Rein Me In by Sam Fender and Olivia Dean logged its 19th non-consecutive week at Number 1 — breaking the record for the most weeks at the top in the 74-year history of the UK Official Singles Chart. The previous mark, 18 weeks for Frankie Laine's I Believe, was set in 1953 and had stood for 72 years and 330 days, per Guinness World Records.
The shape of the run is as remarkable as the length. Rein Me In debuted at number 86 in June 2025 and took 36 consecutive weeks to reach the top — the longest climb to Number 1 in a consecutive chart run — before refusing to leave it. The song has now spent 59 straight weeks on the chart, 58 of them inside the Top 40. That is not a hit; that is a residency.
Eighty-six to Number 1 in 36 weeks, then nineteen weeks at the top. Frankie Laine held the record since 1953.
And half of the record lives here. Olivia Dean, 27, is from Haringey; Fender, 32, is North Shields'. A north Londoner co-holding the longest-running Number 1 ever recorded on the UK chart — confirmed by Guinness World Records and reported by The Hollywood Reporter — is the kind of hometown line this desk exists for. Somewhere in N8, a school music department should be putting up a plaque.