Sam Fender and Olivia Dean tie with Wet Wet Wet's Number One Record.

Sam Fender and Olivia Dean have officially cemented their place in British music history, matching an all-time record on the UK Official Singles Chart with their powerhouse collaboration, 'Rein Me In'.

The track, which originally appeared on Fender’s Mercury Prize-winning album People Watching before becoming a duet following a surprise live performance in front of 80,000 fans at London Stadium, has enjoyed an extraordinary chart trajectory. After winning Song of the Year at the 2026 BRIT Awards and securing Fender his first-ever Number One single, the track broke the record for the most consecutive weeks in the Top 40 before eventually climbing to the top spot.

Now, 'Rein Me In' has secured its 15th non-consecutive week at Number One. This milestone ties Wet Wet Wet’s 1994 smash hit ‘Love Is All Around’ for the longest-running Number One single by a British artist in UK chart history.

While Fender and Dean are celebrating their historic run, Wet Wet Wet famously had a much more complicated relationship with their 15-week streak. Originally recorded for the romantic comedy film Four Weddings and a Funeral, the song's inescapable ubiquity on British radio eventually sparked a massive public backlash. Radio stations began banning the track due to listener complaints, disgruntled music fans taped "I hate Wet Wet Wet" signs during Top of the Pops broadcasts, and people even broke into pub jukeboxes just to physically remove the single.

The band grew so thoroughly sick of their own song and the intense fatigue it caused across the nation that bassist Graeme Clark and frontman Marti Pellow took the unprecedented step of ordering their record label, PolyGram, to stop pressing copies. This voluntary deletion effectively forced the track to drop.

The bizarre saga came to a definitive end on 11 September 1994. Having deleted their own record from sale, Wet Wet Wet was finally knocked off the top spot by Danish singer Whigfield and her high-energy Eurodance-pop anthem, 'Saturday Night'. Armed with an infectious "Dee dee na na na" hook and an iconic line dance routine that swept across school discos and holiday resorts, Whigfield didn't just dethrone the Scottish band—she made history herself by becoming the first-ever debut single to enter the UK Official Singles Chart straight at Number One

Beyond its historic weeks at the summit, the duet has proven to be an absolute cultural juggernaut. It has matched Harry Styles' 'As It Was' for the most weeks spent in the Top Ten for any non-Christmas single, logging a massive 37 weeks. This dual feat of immediate dominance and sheer endurance underscores the unique streaming and radio power the duo has tapped into

With this latest achievement, 'Rein Me In' now trails just two legendary singles on the all-time UK longevity list

• Bryan Adams – ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ (16 weeks in 1991)
• Frankie Laine – ‘I Believe’ (18 weeks across separate stints in 1953)

With 'Rein Me In' still holding immense momentum on streaming and radio formats, all eyes are on the upcoming chart cycles to see if Fender and Dean can break their tie with Wet Wet Wet and officially challenge Bryan Adams' 35-year-old record.