Rein Me In still can’t be reined in as Sam Fender and Olivia Dean get a 22nd week at number one. Phoebe Bridgers gets her first number one album in the UK.

.In 2007 Rihanna spent ten weeks at number one with Umbrella. While it would be an exaggeration to say that it never stopped raining in that time, we did have a rather wet summer. 

In 2026, Rein Me in (let’s not worry about minor details such as spelling) has now notched up a 22nd week at number one and rain has become something people talk about nostalgically. Indeed, it has been at number one for so long that it is easy to forget that it climbed to the top at a time when we desperately longed for just a couple dry days. Yesterday (Thursday), it became the first song to be at the top of the UK singles chart exactly six months after climbing to the summit. The betting companies might want to start thinking about the odds for Last Christmas to be the next number one.

On a more quirky note, my general rule is to spell out numbers up to twenty and to use numbers thereafter. This is the first time I have used numbers to indicate how long a song has spent at number one. If it is still number one next week, I might demonstrate an exception to the rule.

A long-running number one almost inevitably leads to at least one particularly unlucky number two. That label can be applied to Shakira and Burna Boy’s Dai Dai which gets a fifth consecutive week in the runner-up position.

Ella Langley is still Choosin’ Texas at number three. Hugel, Imael Angel and Ultra Nate stay at number four with Movin’ To The Sun. From where? The Daily Express? Stella Lefty has her first top five hit as Boston climbs to number five. I assume that is a second US geographical; reference in the top five rather than being about the town in Lincolnshire.

As the summer draws to a close, it is not unusual for some utterly naff track to hit the charts. This trend dates back at least as far as Y Viva Espana in 1970-something. That serves as an introduction to the fact that Katseye have their fifth top forty hit of the year with something called Hootie Frutti at number sixteen. Tutti Frutti it ain’t. It is roughly the same length as the Little Richard classic, but definitely does not leave this listener wanting more.

Noah Kahan’s Orbiter has been making its way round the charts for a coup[le months, mostly in the forties but briefly dropping into the fifties as well as a short spell in the top forty. Now it is back in the main chart at number 32, a new peak.

Robyn’s wonderful Dancing On My Own reappeared in the top forty for a couple weeks while I have been away, before dropping out last week. This week it is back again at number 34.

Raye’s Where Is My Husband is still in the top forty. Can’t she swap it for a version of U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for?

The Killers’ Mr Brightside moves back up two places to number 38. Its current top forty run is its longest. At five weeks it easily surpasses the classic song’s initial three-week run back in 2004. Despite being on permanent AACR (meaning that its streams have only half the value of most songs in the chart), it has been in the top 100 almost continuously since the start of 2021. It typically drops out for a week or two over the festive period. This is its 519th week in the top 100, but only its twelfth in the top forty.

When American singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers released her debut album, most people in the UK took no notice whatsoever. It entered the lower reaches of the downloads chart, but didn’t make the main chart at all. Three years later, album number two performed much better, reaching the top ten. After a six-year gap, she has finally released her third album. Lost Weekend, and has grabbed herself a first UK number one. The title track is also a new entry in the singles chart, at number 39.

Lost Weekend is the 24th album to top the chart since Rein Me In first topped the singles chart. Bear in mind that four other swings have topped the chart since then while Sam Fender and Olivia Dean were having a little rest.

People who think they can stand a full album of Katseye got their wish last week with the release of Wild. It lands at number two this week. Oh joy.

While they haven’t had a top forty single for over a decade, Dublin band The Script continue to enjoy chart success with their albums. All of their first seven studio albums have reached the top two. However, the midweek updates suggested that their eighth collection, The User’s Guide To Being Human might see that run come to an end. Today (Friday) sees that confirmed. It is a new entry at number three.

A look at the Script’s upcoming dates in the UK shows something of a contrast, After dates at the Bournemouth International Centre, a large venue I know well, and the O2 Arena in London. They have a date at the 600-capacity Concorde 2 in Brighton. This must either be a special treat for a select number of Sussex-based fans, or an acknowledgement that there would be a lot of empty seats in the Brighton Centre.

If one album title could sum up the summer of 2026 in much of Europe, Jungle’s Sunshine would be a good contender. Sadly, neither Eric Morecambe nor Ernie Wise is alive to be able to walk into a record shop and ask someone behind the counter to “Bring Me Sunshine”. Nevertheless, sufficient people are alive to buy or stream the album for it to have got to number four.

The top five is completed by The Essential Michael Jackson. 

The Kris Barras band, fronted by a former UFC fighter, are at number 21 with Monsters We Made. Marilyn Manson gets a twelfth top forty album with One Assassination Under God - Chapter 2 at number 27. Chapter 1 reached number 36 in 2024.

Finally, many thanks to popchartfreak for his commentaries in five of the last six weeks.