The Rolling Stones have become the first act to have top 10 albums in the United States in every decade since the 1960s.
Their new album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ entered the Billboard 200 chart at Number Three this week (October 31), extending the band’s record as the artist with the most top 10 albums of all time, with 38 in total.
In their home country, The Rolling Stones already held the record for the artist with number one albums in the most decades. In 2020, a re-issue of their 1973 album ‘Goats Head Soup’ reached the top spot, marking number ones in six separate decades, although they did not get a chart-topper in the 2000s in the UK.
‘Hackney Diamonds’, which was released on October 20, also recently reached the top of the UK Albums Chart, their 14th Number One in all. The band were also honoured this week with the British Phonographic Industry’s BRIT Billion Award for reaching the landmark of one billion career UK streams.
The album features contributions from Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and others. Speaking to NME, Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood gave us a glimpse into the recording studio during the recording of ‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’, which features vocals from Lady Gaga.
“She was just sitting on the floor, singing along with Mick,” Wood said. “A rough vocal, you know. And Mick said: ‘That sounds pretty good. Do you wanna make a go of it?’ She said, ‘Yeah.’ ‘Well, come on then – stand up and let’s go and work it out together!’ To see it all take shape was very rewarding.”
The Billboard 200 is the US’ official albums chart, and in addition to their 38 top 10 placings, The Rolling Stones have also scored a total of nine number one albums, including ‘Sticky Fingers’, ‘Exile on Main St.’ and ‘Tattoo You’.
No other artist has charted in the top 10 for each decade since the ‘60s, although Barbra Streisand has the chance to match the achievement if she is able to land an album in the top 10 before the end of the 2020s. Streisand also has the second most top 10 albums in total with 34, with The Beatles and Frank Sinatra tied for third on 32.
The Rolling Stones recently played a surprise intimate show in New York with Lady Gaga at the 650-capacity Racket venue in Chelsea. Mick Jagger introduced the pop icon for an encore performance of ‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’.
In a four-star review of ‘Hackney Diamonds’, the Stones’ first album in 18 years, NME described the project as “an absolute barnstormer” that is “very enjoyable”.
It added: “…If ‘Hackney Diamonds’ does round off the most successful career in rock music ever, it wouldn’t be a bad place to leave it. A natural end, but definitely not a normal one.”
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