Sam Fender and Olivia Dean’s collaboration “Rein Me In” has become the longest-running UK No.1 ever, with 19 weeks at the top of the singles chart. The song has overtaken Frankie Laine’s “I Believe,” which spent 18 weeks at No.1 across three separate runs in 1953. The record had stood for 73 years, dating back to the first full year of the UK Official Singles Chart.
On hearing the news, Fender said he was “completely lost for words. Thank you so much to Olivia Dean and the fans for making this song the juggernaut that it is.”
“Rein Me In” was released over a year ago. The duet is a re-recorded version of a song that originally appeared on Fender’s Mercury Prize-winning album People Watching. The track features an added verse about the breakdown of a relationship from a female perspective, courtesy of Dean.
“[It’s] very personal and reminded us of home, but when Olivia put her touch on it, it became a much more universal track,” Fender told BBC Radio 1, adding “that’s what made it so huge and so beautiful.” He thanked Dean for helping him achieve his first ever No. 1 single: “It wouldn’t have happened without Olivia obviously, but now I feel like it belongs to the fans, they’ve made it what it is.” “Rein Me In” has staying power on the charts in part thanks to viral success on TikTok.
The Fender and Dean version took 35 weeks from its first UK chart entry to reach No.1 in February 2026, breaking the record for the longest climb to the top. It is the only song in UK chart history to return to No.1 four times during the same chart run. Dean previously topped the charts with “Man I Need.”
“Rein Me In” won Song Of The Year at the 2026 BRIT Awards. Both artists took home a number of individual awards that night, including Dean’s trophies for Artist of the Year and Mastercard Album of The Year for The Art of Loving.
