How Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's Rein Me In broke longest standing music record

The song's journey has been an interesting one - first entering the charts in June 2025, but not hitting the top spot until February 2026, just a week before it was crowned song of the year at the Brit Awards.

Three weeks after going to number one, it was knocked off the top spot by Harry Styles' American Girls, but only for seven days.

Since then it has only been superseded briefly by Olivia Rodrigo's Drop Dead and Ariana Grande's Hate That I Made You Love Me.

Rein Me In has now spent so long at the top that it has broken every record in UK chart history.

Ben Mortimer, who runs Fender's label Polydor, described it as a "historic achievement" from "two homegrown stars" - Newcastle's Fender and London's Dean.

In his interview with Radio 1, Fender acknowledged the track's slow climb to the top, thanking "the internet".

He also says he found it interesting that the track "travelled online and people came to it later, which is wonderful really because it's the music that's doing the talking".

The song has become a mainstay on TikTok - a quick scroll through the social media app shows its use on everything from grand declarations of love to montages of holidays and even compilations of football goals and celebrations.

It's also notable that the song first went viral after the pair performed it at a show at the London Stadium, home of Dean's team West Ham, in June last year.

She then returned the favour a week later at Newcastle United's St James Park, performing the song this time at the home of Fender's footballing love.

Whilst TikTok streams do not count towards the official charts, BBC research from last year explored how much of an effect the platform was having on what we listened to, particularly songs with meaningful and powerful lyrics.