The Rolling Stone’s new album Hackney Diamonds has claimed the number one spot in this week’s UK charts – drawing level with The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and Robbie Williams for the record for most number one studio albums.
It is the group’s 11th album to hit the top spot and its first collection of new material in 18 years.
It is also the first album for Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards without drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021.
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Counting reissues, greatest hits and live albums, the band now stands alongside Robbie Williams with a total of 14 number-one albums – just behind The Beatles with 16.
Hackney Diamonds has sold 72,200 units in its first week, outselling the rest of the top five combined.
It amounts to the third largest weekly sales for an album in 2023, behind Lewis Capaldi’s Broken by Desire to be Heavenly Sent and Ed Sheeran’s -.
The album, which features Paul McCartney, Elton John, Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, also topped the official vinyl album chart.
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The band blink-182’s ninth album One More Time debuts at number two while records by Bombay Bicycle Club, Olivia Rodrigo and Drake make up the top five albums.
Meanwhile, Kenya Grace’s Strangers topped the singles chart for the third week in a row.
The Rolling Stones formed in the early 1960s and have had eight number-one singles in the UK including (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Paint It, Black and Honky Tonk Women.
In 1989, the band was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame by The Who’s Pete Townshend.
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They marked their 60th anniversary with a European tour in 2022, covering 10 countries including a performance at British Summer Time (BST) festival in London.
The band teased the release of the new album by placing an advert in a local east London paper.
The Rolling Stones’ last album of original music was A Bigger Bang in 2005, while their last studio album, Blue & Lonesome, which comprised blues covers, was released in 2016.
