Some songs top the charts and disappear. Others refuse to budge. In a world where the one-week wonder is fading, the tracks below dominated the Official Singles Chart for weeks on end, and in some cases, months. These are the songs that just wouldn’t let go, including hits by Queen, Ed Sheeran, Bryan Adams, and Frankie Laine.
Let’s take a look at the tracks that have spent ten weeks or more at Number 1 on the UK charts.
1. Frankie Laine – I Believe (18 weeks)
📆 Year: 1953
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 18 (non-consecutive)
Nobody’s done it longer. Frankie Laine’s I Believe holds the record for the most weeks at Number 1 in the UK and it did so over three separate stints. First came nine weeks, then six, then another three. Nobody’s matched this wild chart domination since. Robson & Jerome had a go in 1995, but Frankie’s version remains the true record-setter.
2. Bryan Adams – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (16 weeks)
📆 Year: 1991
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 16 (consecutive)
This soft-rock power ballad from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was inescapable for 16 weeks straight. You couldn’t turn on a radio without hearing it. The UK was so desperate to get rid of it, it took U2 to finally knock it off the top spot.
3. Wet Wet Wet – Love Is All Around (15 weeks)
📆 Year: 1994
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 15 (consecutive)
Another film song, this time from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Even the band got sick of hearing it. After 15 weeks, they deleted the single. That’s one way to end your own reign.
4. Drake – One Dance (15 weeks)
📆 Year: 2016
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 15 (consecutive)
Drake’s summer anthem, featuring Wizkid and Kyla, holds the record for the longest-running UK Number 1 of the digital era. After 15 weeks, he was finally unseated by Major Lazer and Justin Bieber. Still, One Dance ruled the streaming era like few others.
5. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody (14 weeks)
📆 Years: 1975, 1991
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 14 (non-consecutive)
Nine weeks in the 70s. Another five after Freddie’s death in 1991. Bohemian Rhapsody remains the only UK Christmas Number 1… twice.
6. Ed Sheeran – Shape of You (14 weeks)
📆 Year: 2017
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 14 (non-consecutive)
Ed fought off his own songs for weeks, but Shape of You came out on top. Even Harry Styles could only briefly knock it off before Ed returned to the summit.
7. Alex Warren – Ordinary (13 weeks)
📆 Year: 2025
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 13 (non-consecutive)
In a surprise chart storm, Alex Warren’s Ordinary became the longest-running Number 1 of the 2020s. Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits held the previous decade record with 11 weeks.
8. Slim Whitman – Rose Marie (11 weeks)
📆 Year: 1955
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 11 (consecutive)
Country legend Slim Whitman held the record for longest consecutive weeks at Number 1 for over three decades, until Bryan Adams showed up with a bow and arrow.
9. Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber – Despacito (11 weeks)
📆 Year: 2017
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 11 (non-consecutive)
The first Spanish-language song to dominate the UK charts in this way. Bieber helped push it over the edge, but the beat did most of the heavy lifting.
10. Tones and I – Dance Monkey (11 weeks)
📆 Year: 2019
🧮 Weeks at Number 1: 11 (consecutive)
It took eight weeks to reach Number 1, but once it got there, it didn’t move. Dance Monkey is the longest-running UK Number 1 by a female solo artist.
Also clocking 10 weeks at Number 1:
- Ed Sheeran – Bad Habits (2021)
- Dave & Central Cee – Sprinter (2023)
- Miley Cyrus – Flowers (2023)
- Harry Styles – As It Was (2022)
- David Whitfield – Cara Mia (1954)
- Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You (1992-93)
- Rihanna ft. Jay-Z – Umbrella (2007)
Honourable Mentions: 9 Week Chart Champs
These songs didn’t quite hit double digits but got close:
- You’re The One That I Want – John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
- Two Tribes – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
- Rockabye – Clean Bandit
- Drivers License – Olivia Rodrigo
- Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
