When the Rolling Stones announced their first new studio album in a decade, Blue & Lonesome, was going to be a pure blues set, it got purists excited but made the casual fan question why they didn’t do another pure rock album.
As it turns out, the album is absolutely brilliant and is looking at, possibly, a better chart performance than not only their last album, A Bigger Bang, but better than any album in decades.
United States
The Stones will definitely not hit number 1 in the U.S. That will be taken by the new Hamilton Mix Tape with versions of songs from the Broadway show by various artists but it is very possible that it could come in at number 2.
Hits Daily Double is estimating that the Hamilton album will move 170,000 to 180,000 copies and pickup an extra 20,000 to 30,000 in streaming. The Stones are estimated at 85,000 to 95,000 in sales and an extra 5,000 from streaming. The new album from Childish Gambino is running about 5,000 behind the Stones.
If the Stones do come in at 2, it will be the best showing for a studio album by the group since 1994’s Voodoo Lounge which also peaked at 2. The group also hit number 2 in 2002 with the compilation Forty Licks.
The Stones have not been to number 1 in the U.S. since 1981’s Tattoo You.
Britain
The Official Chart Company has said that, with only a couple of days of sales in, that Blue & Lonesome has a very good chance of topping the charts.
If it holds, it will be their first chart topper with an original release since 1994’s Voodoo Lounge. The Stones did hit number 1 in 2010 with the rerelased, deluxe version of Exile on Main Street.
The Rolling Stones’ number 1 albums in the U.K.:
Rolling Stones (1964)
Rolling Stones No. 2 (1965)
Aftermath (1966)
Let It Bleed (1969)
Get Your Ya-Ya’s Out (1970)
Sticky Fingers (1971)
Exile on Main Street (1972)
Goat’s Head Soup (1973)
Emotional Rescue (1980)
Voodoo Lounge (1994)
Exile on Main Street: Deluxe Edition (2010)
Their last studio album, A Bigger Bang, peaked at number 2.
Australia
The last number one album for The Rolling Stones in Australia was ‘Tattoo You’ in 1981.
Sticky Fingers (no 1) 1971
Goats Head Soup (no 1) 1973)
Tattoo You (no 1) 1981
Exile On Main Street (no 2) 1972)
Voodoo Lounge (no 2), 1994
Dirty Work (no 2) 1986
Some Girls (no 3) 1978)
Undercover (no 3) 1983
Steel Wheels (no 3), 1989
Black and Blue (no 4) 1976
A Bigger Bang (no 4), 2005
Its Only Rock N Roll (no 7) 1974
Bridges To Babylon (no 19) 1997
