From ‘Exile’ to ‘Dirty Work’: Ranking The Rolling Stones Studio Albums

Exile on Main St. (1972) — The dirty cathedral of rock ’n’ roll. Blues, gospel, country, soul, drugs, sweat, and genius leaking out of every speaker.

Sticky Fingers (1971) — Sleaze with perfect tailoring. “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses,” “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” — not a weak punch thrown.

Let It Bleed (1969) — End-of-the-world music you can dance to. Dark, beautiful, dangerous.

Beggars Banquet (1968) — The moment the Stones stopped being just a great band and became rock royalty.

Some Girls (1978) — Lean, vicious, funny, desperate. Punk scared them awake and the result was dynamite.

Aftermath (1966) — Brian Jones turns the band into musical pirates. Strange instruments everywhere and Mick suddenly writing like a devil.

Tattoo You (1981) — Leftovers turned into a classic. “Start Me Up” alone could power Manhattan.

Between the Buttons (1967) — The Stones in velvet jackets, making strange little pop masterpieces.

Out of Our Heads (1965) — Raw rhythm-and-blues swagger before the world could contain them.

Goats Head Soup (1973) — Druggy and decadent, but “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo,” “Star Star,” and “Angie” keep it immortal.

It’s Only Rock ’n Roll (1974) — Loose, cocky, and grinning through the hangover. Black and Blue (1976) — Half travelogue, half groove experiment. Slippery and underrated.

Hackney Diamonds (2023) — Absurdly good for a band this old. They came back swinging instead of wheezing.

The Rolling Stones (1964) — Pure blues obsession. Young hooligans trying to outplay Chicago legends.

December’s Children (1965) — Rough-edged and underrated with enough attitude to start a riot.

Blue & Lonesome (2016) — Old men returning to the blues and sounding completely alive. Emotional Rescue (1980) — Weird disco swagger mixed with genuine brilliance.

Steel Wheels (1989) — The comeback nobody expected to fail but didn’t.

Undercover (1983) — Uneven, paranoid, strange. Better than its reputation.

Voodoo Lounge (1994) — Long but strong. The Stones proving they still owned stadiums.

Bridges to Babylon (1997) — Overproduced in spots, but still packed with menace and groove.

A Bigger Bang (2005) — Too long, but when it hits, it hits hard.

Flowers (1967) — A psychedelic odds-and-ends collection that somehow works beautifully.

Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967) — Completely unhinged psychedelic chaos. Sometimes glorious, sometimes like five magicians trapped in a fog machine.

Dirty Work (1986) — Angry, ugly, and stitched together during a civil war. But even bad Stones records have teeth.