{"id":310268,"date":"2026-02-21T18:43:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310268\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T18:43:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T18:43:13","slug":"sam-fender-breaks-record-to-score-first-number-one-single-as-charli-xcx-tops-uk-album-chart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310268\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Fender breaks record to score first Number One single as Charli XCX tops UK album chart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Fender<\/a>\u00a0has claimed his first ever Number One single with his\u00a0Olivia Dean<\/a>\u00a0collab \u2018Rein Me In\u2019,\u00a0while\u00a0Charli XCX<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Wuthering Heights<\/a>\u2019 has topped the albums chart.<\/p>\n

\u2018Rein Me In\u2019 was first released last June\u00a0and in\u00a0finally\u00a0reaching\u00a0the summit of the chart today (February 20), it\u00a0has broken\u00a0the record for the most consecutive weeks spent in the Top 40 before reaching the top. Its 35-week climb has broken the\u00a0previous\u00a0record of\u00a019 weeks\u00a0set by\u00a0Ed Sheeran<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Thinking Out Loud\u2019 in 2014.<\/p>\n

It is Fender\u2019s first ever Number One\u00a0single\u00a0and it beats his\u00a0previous\u00a0high of Number Three for \u2018Seventeen Going Under\u2019 in 2021.<\/p>\n

For Dean, she now occupies three of the top four spots in the Singles Chart, with \u2018So Easy (To Fall In Love)\u2019 rising to Number Two and her previous chart-topper \u2018Man I Need\u2019 coming in at Number Four.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the 2016 social media trend is borne out by\u00a0Zara Larsson<\/a>\u2019s \u2018Lush Life\u2019 rising to Number Three, the same peak it reached ten years ago, while\u00a0Bad Bunny<\/a> sees a resurgence after his Super Bowl halftime show<\/a>, with \u2018DTMF\u2019 coming in at Number Five.<\/p>\n

Official UK Singles Chart, 20-26 February 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

1) Sam Fender & Olivia Dean \u2013 \u2018Rein Me In\u2019\u00a0
2) Olivia Dean \u2013 \u2018So Easy (To Fall In Love)\u2019\u00a0
3) Zara Larsson \u2013 \u2018Lush Life\u2019\u00a0
4) Olivia Dean \u2013 \u2018Man I Need\u2019\u00a0
5) Bad Bunny \u2013 \u2018DTMF\u2019\u00a0
6) Bruno Mars \u2013 \u2018I Just Might\u2019\u00a0
7) Sombr \u2013 \u2018Homewrecker\u2019\u00a0
8) Taylor Swift \u2013 \u2018Opalite\u2019\u00a0
9) PinkPantheress \u2013 \u2018Stateside\u2019\u00a0
10) Harry Styles \u2013 \u2018Aperture\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the albums chart, Charli XCX has claimed the third Number One of her\u00a0career\u00a0with her soundtrack record to Emerald Fennell\u2019s new film\u00a0Wuthering Heights<\/a>. It follows her previous chart-toppers \u2018Crash\u2019 (2022) and \u2018Brat<\/a>\u2019 (2024), and it is her\u00a0eighth Top 40 album in total.<\/p>\n

\u2018Wuthering Heights\u2019 has also topped the Official Vinyl Albums Chart this week, while the film has soared to the top of the UK box office on its first week of release.<\/p>\n

It knocks Olivia Dean\u2019s debut album \u2018The Art Of Loving\u2019 down to Number Two, while Fleetwood Mac<\/a>\u2019s greatest hits album \u201850 Years \u2013 Don\u2019t Stop\u2019 continues to fly high at Number Three.<\/p>\n

Official UK Albums Chart, 20-26 February 2026\u00a0<\/p>\n

1)\u00a0Charli XCX \u2013 \u2018Wuthering Heights\u2019\u00a0
2) Olivia Dean \u2013 \u2018The Art Of Loving\u2019\u00a0
3) Fleetwood Mac \u2013 \u201850 Years \u2013 Don\u2019t Stop\u2019\u00a0
4) The\u00a0Weeknd\u00a0\u2013 \u2018The Highlights\u2019\u00a0
5) Bad Bunny \u2013 \u2018Debi\u00a0Tirar\u00a0Mas Fotos\u2019\u00a0
6) Michael Jackson \u2013 \u2018The Essential\u2019\u00a0
7) Ed Sheeran \u2013 \u2018+ \u2013 = Divide X \u2013 Tour Collection\u2019\u00a0
8) Sabrina Carpenter \u2013 \u2018Man\u2019s Best Friend\u2019\u00a0
9) Alex Warren \u2013 \u2018You\u2019ll Be Alright Kid (Chapter 1)\u2019\u00a0
10) Sabrina Carpenter \u2013\u00a0\u2018Short N\u2019 Sweet\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fender is nominated for\u00a0a number of\u00a0BRIT Awards ahead<\/a>\u00a0of the ceremony in Manchester next week (February 28), including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year for his\u00a0Mercury Prize-winning<\/a>\u00a0\u2018People Watching<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Charli, meanwhile, has seen her new film\u00a0The Moment<\/a>\u00a0released into cinemas today, a music industry satire that\u00a0NME\u00a0has awarded three stars<\/a>\u00a0and noted: \u201cThe Moment\u00a0is too protracted and tonally uneven to work as a great mockumentary, but it has plenty of meme-worthy moments that TikTok will lap up. If that sounds like faint praise, well, just remember it was enough to make Emerald Fennell\u2019s\u00a0Saltburn<\/a>\u00a0a sensation back in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Fender\u00a0has claimed his first ever Number One single with his\u00a0Olivia Dean\u00a0collab \u2018Rein Me In\u2019,\u00a0while\u00a0Charli XCX\u2019s \u2018Wuthering Heights\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310269,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278,641],"class_list":["post-310268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}