The Rolling Stones have drawn level with The Beatles after scoring their 15th UK Number One album with ‘Foreign Tongues’.
The band’s 25th studio record, which was released on July 10, debuted at the top of the Official Albums Chart yesterday (July 17), matching the success of their previous record, 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’.
The achievement puts the Stones alongside the Fab Four on 15 UK Number One albums each, with only Robbie Williams ahead of them on the all-time list.
Williams overtook The Beatles in January when ‘BRITPOP’ became his 16th solo chart-topper. Taylor Swift follows The Stones and The Beatles with 14 Number Ones, while Elvis Presley and Madonna have 13 each.
The Stones’ first chart-topping album was their self-titled debut in 1964, meaning the band have now returned to the summit more than 62 years later.
‘Foreign Tongues’ features guest contributions from Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith, Steve Winwood and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, alongside an appearance from late Stones drummer Charlie Watts taken from one of his final recording sessions before his death in 2021.
McCartney plays bass on ‘Covered In You’, with Mick Jagger previously telling NME that working with the former Beatle had been “very easy”.
Smith, meanwhile, plays guitar on ‘Divine Intervention’ and contributes synth and backing vocals to ‘Never Wanna Lose You’, although The Cure frontman initially turned down the chance to collaborate because he “wasn’t really prepared for it”.
The Stones celebrated the arrival of the album with a star-studded launch party in London earlier this month, attended by Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Sam Fender, Sacha Baron Cohen, John McEnroe, Glen Matlock and Vernon Kay.
Speaking at the launch, Jagger and Wood also expressed their hope that the band would take the album out on tour. “Ronnie and I are really into that, so we hope to see everyone on the road,” he said.
The Stones have also launched a six-part podcast series, Speaking In Tongues, to accompany the record. Narrated by Norah Jones, it features new interviews with Jagger, Keith Richards, Wood and archival contributions from Watts.
Jagger previously told NME that the band had no plans to slow down, revealing that he had already begun writing material that could potentially form a third album in their recent run.
“Yeah, it could be a trio,” he said. “I’ve already started writing songs anyway. They could be for other people though. When you write a song, you sometimes decide, ‘That’s not for me, but it could be for the Chili Peppers’, or whatever.
“I’ve got a lot of stuff, and not all of it’s suitable for The Rolling Stones,” he continued. “It shouldn’t stop me writing them, you know. If you get an idea, just write it.”
In a three-and-a-half-star review of ‘Foreign Tongues’, NME described the album as “fresh and refined”, adding: “Mick, Keith and Ronnie have hit a surprising purple patch – and if you believe the eternally energetic entertainer’s claim that he’s already writing the follow-up to ‘Foreign Tongues’, there’s plenty more left in the tank.”
Jagger also recently clarified the meaning of a lyric referring to Elon Musk as a “mad mogul” on album track ‘Mr Charm’, insisting that the line was intended as a “sidewinding compliment” about the SpaceX founder’s involvement in bringing stranded astronauts back to Earth.
He also told NME that he is a fan of Sam Fender, describing his Mercury Prize-winning album ‘People Watching’ as “excellent” and suggesting that the singer-songwriter could make a suitable guest at a future Stones show.
