Sam Fender and Olivia Dean‘s ‘Rein Me In’ has tied with Wet Wet Wet‘s record on the UK Singles Chart.
The track is a firm fan-favourite, winning the BRIT Award for Song Of The Year as well as scoring Fender his first ever Number One single. The track broke the record for the most consecutive weeks spent in the Top 40 before reaching the top, and has spent 15 non-consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
Now, it’s racked up another achievement, having spent the joint highest number of weeks at Number One by any British single in UK Official Chart history, meaning it now ties with Wet Wet Wet’s ‘Love Is All Around’ – which spent 15 weeks in the top spot in 1994 – for the longest-running Number One by a British artist.
As noted by Official Charts, ‘Rein Me In’ has also spent the joint highest number of weeks in the Top Ten for any non-Christmas single ever at a massive 37 weeks, level with Harry Styles’ ’As It Was’.
It now trails behind just two tracks on the Official Singles Chart all-time list, Bryan Adams’ ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ (16 weeks) and Frankie Laine’s ‘I Believe in Love’ (18 weeks).
The song originally featured on Fender’s third and latest studio album ‘People Watching’, but later took on new life during his huge London Stadium gig last year, when he brought Dean out in front of the 80,000-strong crowd and performed a collaborative rendition.
The two of them would then join forces twice more at shows to share the duet – both held at Fender’s huge homecoming shows at Newcastle’s St. James’ Park, and last June, they officially released the track.
Back in May, North Shields singer-songwriter Fender was the recipient of the Songwriter of the Year prize at the Ivor Novello Awards, and was presented the prize by Elton John, who described him as ”one of the greatest lyricists Britain has ever produced”.
“What impresses me about Sam so much is his honest outlook on what happens when you grow up in somewhere like North Shields,” John said at the ceremony. “His lyrical ability to paint pictures that are grim, uplifting, whatever, makes him one of the greatest lyricists I think Britain has ever produced.”
Nodding to the ongoing success of ‘Rein Me In’, he added: “The only thing I’ll say is, for Christ’s sake, you’ve been at Number One for 12 weeks now, bugger off!”
Last year, Fender and John released ‘Talk To You’, a song included on the deluxe version of ‘People Watching’, which won the Mercury Prize last year.
Fender also told Elton last year that he had already started thinking about the follow-up to ‘People Watching’. “I’m going to make another album, I think,” he said. “I’ve got a load of other songs, so I want to make another record.”
In a four-star review of ‘People Watching’, NME wrote: “Reflective, analytical and vulnerable, ‘People Watching’ does exactly what the title may suggest: takes stock of the characters, friends and loved ones who have made Fender the person he is today. He approaches each track with sensitivity as he looks back on his life so far – perhaps even with an inkling of guilt – and contemplates who he may be next.”