Charts analysis: Breaking down a new chart record for Rein Me In

Sam Fender & Olivia Dean make chart history as Rein Me In secures its 16th (non-consecutive) week at No.1 to pass Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet – a 15-week topper in 1994 - to become the longest-running No.1 ever by a British act. It thus matches (Everything I Do) I Do It For You by Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams – 16 weeks at No.1 in 1991 – with the only song in chart history to sustain for longer being American crooner Frankie Laine’s 1953 behemoth, I Believe, which spent 18 weeks at the summit. The release of a pink vinyl 7-inch single couldn’t prevent consumption of Rein Me In from falling 1.66% week-on-week to 41,014 units (174 vinyl singles, 401 digital downloads and 40,439 sales-equivalent streams), its own lowest level for 21 weeks, and the lowest for a No.1 for 50 weeks. Its streaming has underperformed compared to the market for two weeks in a row, and another negative week would see it enter ACR for the first time, surely ending its No.1 status – although I suspect that the demand for its new 7-inch variant was greater than it seems this week, and that more will be shipped in the coming week. Rein Me In is in the Top 40 for the 55th week in a row, shattering the previous record of 54 weeks set by Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud in 2014/2015. It also raises its tally of weeks in the Top 10 to 38, including 28 in a row. Its overall consumption now stands at 1,992,323 units, comprising 8,315 7-inch singles, 24,514 digital downloads and 1,959,494 sales-equivalent streams. Rein Me In’s continued occupation of the top slot is as much due to a very soft market as anything else. Every record in the Top 10 suffers reduced consumption in the latest frame, apart from the only song to reach a new peak, Choosin’ Texas (9-5, 25,038 sales) by Ella Langley and Free Your Mind (10-10, up 53 to 21,675 sales) by Prospa & Cloonee. Olivia Rodrigo’s Stupid Song claims a fourth straight week at No.2 – its entire chart career thus far - with consumption of just 25,954 units. That is less than half of its first week tally, and the lowest for a No.2 single since Ed Sheeran’s Afterglow tallied 25,725 units five and a half years (287 weeks) ago. The rest of the Top 10: Hate That I Made You Love Me (5-3, 25,706 sales) by Ariana Grande, Billie Jean (3-4, 25,077 sales) by Michael Jackson, American Girls (4-6, 24,575 sales) by Harry Styles, I Knew It I Knew You (7-7, 23,449 sales) by Taylor Swift, The Cure (6-8, 22,860 sales) and Drop Dead (8-9, 22,784 sales) by Olivia Rodrigo. Madonna and Sienna Spiro have the top two albums, and also land the week’s highest new entries, with tracks taken from them – in reverse order. Spiro’s first full-length album, Visitor, is home to Great Expectation, which debuts at No.32 (11,7642 sales), becoming the 20-year-old’s sixth hit. Also from the deluxe version of the album, and the Devil Wears Prada 2 soundtrack, Material Lover falls 14-15 (17,158 sales), while her highest-charting song, Die On This Hill, which reached No.9, rebounds 86-19 (16,082 sales) after exiting ACR. Danceteria is arguably the most commercial track on Madonna’s Confessions II album, and the second hit from it, following No.29 Sabrina Carpenter collaboration, Bring Your Love. Debuting at No.38 (11,124 sales), it is Madonna’s 74th Top 75 and 41st Top 40 entry. A surprise release from Beyoncé, thought to be an updated version of a song first demoed but not released in 2013, Morning Dew (Donk), debuts at No.66 (7,891 sales). It is her 84th hit, including 15 with Destiny’s Child, and her first for more than two years. There’s only a handful of games left but World Cup fever continues to shape the chart, with the Official Anthem of the 2026 tournament, Dai Dai by Shakira & Burna Boy rising to a new peak (19-13, 19,180 sales), while her 2010 Freshlyground collaboration Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) moves 43-42 (10,214 sales). England’s presence in the Quarter Finals of the competition feeds growing support for their unofficial anthem, Wonderwall, a No.2 hit for Oasis from 1995, which surges 32-11 (20,591 sales), with the fact that Oasis are reportedly set to announce 2027 dates in the week also providing a boost. From the following year, No.1 smash Three Lions by David Baddiel, Frank Skinner & The Lightning Seeds first saw service as the official England anthem for that year’s Euros but has been pressed back into service at every Euro/World Cup since. It swells 35-21 (13,964 sales) this week, having reached No.20 when the last World Cup was staged in 2022, and No.8 during the 2024 Euros. Wonderwall’s to-date consumption is 5,562,955 units. Some data appears to be missing for Three Lions, but the original has consumption in excess of 2,543,702 units, while the 1998 version has sold 625,916 copies. Journey’s 1982 single Don’t Stop Believin’ – No.62 when first released but a No.6 hit in 2010 – has been used extensively for the US World Cup campaign, sparking social media exposure, and escapes ACR to re-enter at No.27 (12,223 sales). Up 28 places last week, dance track Movin’ To The Sun makes substantial gains for Hugel, Imael Angel & Ultra Naté again, climbing 31-22 (13,902 sales). It is No.1 on the digital downloads chart for the second straight week (1,666 sales). There are new peaks for: Talk To You (17-14, 19,054 sales) by Anotr & 54 Ultra, My Body Isn’t Ready (27-26, 12,312 sales) by Sombr, Sue Me (64-60, 8,523 sales) by Audrey Hobert and Kingdom Of Fear (63-62, 8,268 sales) by Cameron Whitcomb. A No.8 hit when first released in 2010, Swedish singer Robyn’s Dancing On My Own made a brief return to the chart in 2015, reaching No.57 after being performed on Britain’s Got Talent by Calum Scott. Featured in new Netflix movie Voicemails For Isabelle to the extent there is even a mention of a ‘Robyn dance party’, it makes a further chart incursion this week, re-entering at No.43 (10,067 sales). Widely regarded as a gay anthem, it is Robyn’s most-consumed track, and simultaneously becomes her first million seller, with to-date consumption of 1,003,469 units, surpassing even her 2007 No.1 hit With Every Heartbeat (697,585 units). As for Scott, he finished sixth in the final of Britain’s Got Talent, and then went on to record his own, stripped-down version of Dancing On My Own, which peaked at No.2 in 2016, and has since gone on to achieve consumption of 3,654,385 units, making it the 62nd biggest track of the 21st century. Scott had one more Top 10 hit (Where Are You Now? with Lost Frequencies) although his second most-consumed song is You Are The Reason – initially solo but later a duet with Leona Lewis – which only reached No.45 in 2017, but has to-date consumption of 2,040,832 units. It is the 498th biggest song of the 21st century, and the 56th biggest of the era NOT to make the Top 40. No.1 for 15 weeks in 2016, One Dance by Drake feat. Wizkid & Kyla was the third longest-running No.1 of all-time, until Rein Me In passed it this week. It was powered by a sample from German-born British singer Kyla’s dance hit Do You Mind, which was released in 2008 and peaked at No.48 in 2009. A viral revival with more than 4.5m posts on TikTok, Do You Mind was officially re-released in May, and now re-enters the chart at No.58, with consumption of 8,605 units, raising its career cume to 350,852. One Dance, meanwhile, is on 5,150,386 units, and had slightly higher consumption this week than Do You Mind – 8,970 – but is on ACR, and not in the chart. Overall singles consumption is up 0.23% week-on-week to 30,807,452 units, 1.73% above same week 2025 sales of 30,284,451 units. Paid-for sales are down 7.18% week-on-week at 256,055, 8.34% below same week 2025 sales of 279,341.

Charts analysis: Madonna's Confessions sequel becomes her 13th No.1 album

Confessions, they say, are good for the soul – for Madonna, they’re also good for the chart résumé: Confessions On A Dance Floor was No.1 in 2005, and sequel Confessions II debuts atop the chart this week. Madonna’s first No.1 since MDNA in 2012, Confessions II racks up first week consumption of 48,502 units (13,841 CDs, 20,758 vinyl albums, 846 cassettes, 6,577 digital downloads and 6,480 sales-equivalent streams) – 78.14% above the 27,227 units her last studio album, Madame X, achieved when it debuted and peaked at No.2 in 2019. Although well short of Confessions On A Dance Floor’s first week sales of 217,610, Confessions II makes Madonna’s best start since MDNA launched in 2012, with 56,335 units. Helped by the fact it was released in 3 CD and 13 vinyl editions, Confessions II also had £4.99 digital exclusive variants with a Grindr edition adding seven songs recorded live in Times Square, and an instrumental edition adding vocal-free variants of all tracks. Following the template of Confessions On A Dance Floor, with Madonna and Stuart Price responsible for writing and producing every track (some in association with others), Confessions II is Madonna’s 13th No.1 album, including her 1996 soundtrack set, Evita, which also included contributions from others. The only acts to have more are Robbie Williams (16), The Beatles (15) and Taylor Swift (14). Elvis Presley is alongside Madonna on 13, and if their new album, Foreign Tongues debuts at No.1 next week, The Rolling Stones will join them. Madonna will be 68 next month, and although several male soloists – Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen – have had No.1 albums of new material at a greater age, that is not the case for women. The oldest living person to have a No.1 was Vera Lynn, whose compilation We'll Meet Again: The Very Best Of, topped the chart in 2009, when she was 92, but all the recordings on that were more than 60 years old at that point. Barbra Streisand was 74 when she topped with new material in the form of Movie Partners Sing Broadway in 2016, but every song thereon was a duet, so its status as a ‘solo’ album is questionable. Confessions II is neither old material nor made up entirely of duets – though there are several collaborations on it – so it is possible to make a case that Madonna is the oldest female solo artist to have a No.1 album of new material, replacing Shania Twain, who was 57, when she topped with Queen Of Me in 2023. Having previously reached No.1 with Like A Virgin (1984 release, 1985 chart-topper), True Blue (1986), Like A Prayer (1989), The Immaculate Collection (1990), Evita (1996 release, 1997 chart-topper), Ray Of Light (1998), Music (2000), American Life (2003), Confessions On A Dance Floor (2005), Hard Candy (2008), Celebration (2009) and MDNA (2012), Madonna has had at least one No.1 album for five different (consecutive, in her case) decades. The only other female solo artist so to do, Kylie Minogue, topped with only a compilation (Greatest Hits) in the 1990s, but Madonna has had at least one studio set topping the chart in each decade, making her achievement superior. Although a significant proportion of Madonna’s chart career was played out in the last century, she is no slouch in the 21st century, with her album consumption from the start of 2000 to midnight yesterday (July 9) standing at 9,797,653 units. That’s the 19th highest 21st century tally for any act, and the fourth highest for a female soloist, trailing only Adele (13,561,909 units), Taylor Swift (13,222,316 units) and Rihanna (9,956,232 units), none of whom were even born before she became a star. Over her career as a whole, Madonna’s most-consumed album is 1990 compilation, The Immaculate Collection, with 3,864,009 units, although it seems to be already certified for 3.9m (13x platinum). Her biggest selling studio album is her third, True Blue, which dates from 1986, and has to-date consumption of 2,109,046 units, and her biggest selling 21st century studio album is 2000 release Music, with to-date consumption of 1,651,282, building on first week sales of 151,891. Madonna’s latest coronation is tough on Sienna Spiro, the critically-acclaimed 20-year-old singer/songwriter from London, whose debut full-length album, Visitor was also released last Friday. Its deluxe edition housing all six of her hit singles to date, Visitor racked up first week consumption of 27,614 units, to debut at No.2. Spiro’s earlier (2025) EP, Sink Now, Swim Later, the original home of her first hit Maybe, has never charted, but has to-date consumption of 26,709 units. Visitor has the biggest first week sale for a debut album thus far in 2026, and surpasses the tally required to be No.1 in 10 of the 28 weeks that have elapsed this year. The rest of the Top 10: You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love (2-3, 19,275 sales), The Essential (3-4, 17,768 sales) by Michael Jackson, The Art Of Loving (5-5, 8,862 sales) by Olivia Dean, Kiss All The Time: Disco, Occasionally (4-6, 8,286 sales) by Harry Styles, The Great Divide (9-7, 7,129 sales) by Noah Kahan 50 Years: Don’t Stop (8-8, 7,117 sales), Thriller (7-9, 6,440 sales) by Michael Jackson and The Ones That Got The Plays (10-10, 6,412 sales) by Katy Perry. Muse’s eighth No.1 album, The Wow! Signal, makes a steeper second week decline than any of its predecessors, tumbling to No.32 (3,606 sales).  Also exiting the Top 10, last week’s No.6, Dear God, which now departs the Top 200 (790 sales) for The Pretty Reckless. Madonna isn’t the oldest act to have a new entry this week – at an average age of 73, heavy metal legends Deep Purple extend their album chart span to 58 years, debuting at No.12 (6,243 sales), with 24th studio album, Splat!. Comprising 1968 founder member and drummer Ian Paice (78), 1969 joiners Ian Gillan (80), and Roger Glover (80), and later recruits Don Airey (78) and Simon McBride (47), the band had had 31 Top 75 entries, including live albums and compilations, 27 of which have made the Top 40. In Germany, where they have had 10 No.1 albums, Splat! Is their 58th hit album, debuting at No.3 The most successful British country act in chart history, The Shires – a duo comprising Ben Earle (Benjamin Earl Mungo Phillpotts) and Crissie Rhodes (Crissie Mary-Ann Gudgin), both 38, racked up five Top 10 studio albums from as many releases between 2015 and 2022. Their sixth, Bonfire, ends that run, debuting at No.28 (3,934 sales) – however, it does become their sixth straight No.1 on the Country albums chart. London trio Mary In The Junkyard debut at No.30 (3,626 sales), with their first full-length album, Role Model Hermit. The album consists of 11 songs with lyrics by charismatic lead singer, guitarist and lyricist, Clari Freeman-Taylor, who turns 23 this month, and music by Freeman-Taylor and her bandmates, 22-year-old bassist Saya Barbaglia and 23-year-old drummer David Addison. The sixth and final new entry, Xperiment (No.62, 2,458 sales), is the third chart album by 26-year-old American rapper Ken Carson. Live gigs and the prospect thereof have a positive effect on several albums in this week’s chart. My Chemical Romance’s ongoing tour in celebration of the 20th anniversary of their third album, The Black Parade, helped that album to return at No.52 last week. It now jumps to No.25 (4,198 sales) – its highest position for 1,003 weeks (more than 18 years) – and is joined by their 2014 compilation, May Death Never Stop You: The Greatest Hits, which darts 87-41 (3,081 sales), to achieve its highest placing for 215 weeks (more than four years). BTS played two gigs in the week at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, helping to elevate their latest album, Arirang to a nine-week high (37-21, 4,753 sales). Pitbull is still a cult favourite more than a decade since his last hit single, and ahead of his performance at Hyde Park today (10 July), his 2017 Greatest Hits album – which previously peaked a year ago at No.21 – is in the Top 20 for the first time, climbing 21-18 (5,001 sales). It has spent 137 weeks in the Top 75, the last 80 consecutively, and has to-date consumption of 725,465 units. The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack set is No.1 for the sixth week in a row and 49th time in total on the compilation chart, on consumption of 3,640 units (258 Yoto cards, 34 digital downloads and 3,348 sales-equivalent streams), the lowest for a No.1 compilation for 55 weeks. Overall album sales are up 0.40% week-on-week to 2,420,887 units, 1.01% above same week 2025 sales of 2,396,734. Physical product accounts for 279,163 sales, 11.53% of the total. PHOTO: Rafael Pavarotti