Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” becomes the longest-running Number 1 since Maan & Goldband’s “Stiekem”

Officially solidifying herself as the rising star of 2025 – Olivia Dean keeps at Number 1 for an eighth consecutive week with “Man I Need”, boosted by the release of her second album The Art of Loving. It has come at the end of a well-deserved breakthrough. Olivia Dean has been making waves in the underground music scene for a few years now, until her debut album helped her become BBC’s Artist of the Year and take over Glastonbury. With eight weeks atop my chart, “Man I Need” now becomes the longest-running Number 1-hit of 2025. It also becomes the longest-running Number 1 since Maan & Goldband’s diamond-certified “Stiekem” from 2022. That can only signal that “Man I Need” is set to become one of the biggest songs of all time. Other songs that spent eight weeks atop my list include the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way”, Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head”, One Direction’s “Story of My Life” and Mabel’s “Don’t Call Me Up”. When it comes to the 2020s, Olivia Dean’s “Man I Need” is the second longest-running Number 1-hit of the decade, alongside Maan and Goldband. Together they place behind Harry Styles’s “As It Was”, which held nine weeks at the top.

Olivia Dean’s other big hit this year was with Sam Fender’s “Rein Me In” – an amazing duet that held at Number 1 for seven big weeks. It was taken from Sam Fender’s third studio album People Watching which spawned two other Number 1-songs; the title track and “Little Bit Closer”. Sam Fender headed a sell-out show at London Stadium, where Olivia Dean was one of the two supporting acts during the show. People Watching received critical acclaim and became his best-selling record to date. To cap it all off, it received the Mercury Prize last week. To celebrate all this success, Sam Fender will close off the year with a deluxe edition of People Watching featuring “Rein Me In” and the new song “Talk To You”. It features none other than Elton John on the piano! The soft ballad celebrates Sam Fender’s big year and is good for a #5-debut. Elton John is back in the Top 10 for the first time since “Cold Heart”, with Dua Lipa of course, its chart run ended in 2022.

Tame Impala impacts the Top 10 just in time for Halloween with the spooky single “Dracula” at #6. It is taken from the project’s fifth studio album Deadbeat, which was released last weekend. It has come at the end of near six-year hiatus. Though in the meantime, frontman Kevin Parker has been busy with Justice on the Top 10-hit “Neverender” and producing Dua Lipa her smash Number 1-hit “Houdini”. The new “Dracula” is a typical Tame Impala-song, akin to the ones found on breakout album Currents and helped make Tame Impala one of the most influential artists of the 2010s. When it comes to chart success, Tame Impala does not appear often – in fact, “Dracula” is only their sixth Top 40-entry. Tame Impala now have set their eyes on a fitting Halloween classic. Perhaps the modern “Thriller”? Its film also takes inspiration from Michael Jackson’s classic. It will compete with Lady Gaga her “The Dead Dance” as well. Halloween is upon us!

Taylor Swift is back in the Top 10 with her new song “The Fate of Ophelia” at #9. It is the lead single of her ridiculously successful new album The Life of a Showgirl. It was a runaway hit across the globe upon release, setting the single-day streaming record for any song on Spotify, becoming the first song to accumulate 30 million streams in a single day. It is obvious that Taylor Swift is thé biggest artist in the world right now. On my personal chart, Taylor Swift has scored five Number 1s and kept a steady string of Top 40-singles ever since her debut with “Love Story” in 2009. The last album The Tortured Poets Department was a bit of slump, failing to spawn a significant hit single, even with The Eras Tour unmatched success to back it up. “The Fate of Ophelia” becomes The Showgirl’s fourteenth Top 10-hit to date. It’s a big stand-out track, echoing the early 2010s alt-pop that made Foster the People and Marina & the Diamonds classic acts of that era.

Leigh-Anne has announced her debut album, set to be released next year. Her Little Mix co-stars Jade and Perrie have released their debut records earlier this month. Early solo singles “Don’t Say Love” or “My Love” will not be included on Leigh-Anne’s debut solo album – perhaps odd, since these rank as her best-performing solo songs to date. The new Rihanna-inspired “Dead and Gone” will be included, however, and it debuts at #16 this week. Furter down, Antoon teams up with newcomer Milo van den Bos, better known under his stage name Milolaathetlukken, on the explosive “Knalprobleem” at #18. Milo has been up-and-coming for some time now, being tipped by numerous Dutch critics as the one to watch. This year, Milo started collaborating with more established rap-pop artists, thus the new hit with Antoon. He caps off an amazing year on this chart – “Beetje Van Mij” became Antoon’s fourth Number 1-hit.

Newly certified

“Nuevayol” – Bad Bunny GOLD

“12 to 12” – sombr GOLD

Longest-running Number 1s of the 2020s

“As It Was” – Harry Styles [9 weeks]

“Stiekem” – Maan & Goldband [8 weeks]

“Man I Need” – Olivia Dean [8 weeks]

“Hyperventilatie” – Antoon [7 weeks]

“Houdini” – Dua Lipa [7 weeks]

“Espresso” – Sabrina Carpenter [7 weeks]

“Taste” – Sabrina Carpenter [7 weeks]

“Rein Me In” – Sam Fender & Olivia Dean [7 weeks]