The Rolling Stones’ Early Career Album Jumps MoreThan 16,000% In Sales

It’s been less than two years since The Rolling Stones returned with a brand new album. The legendary rock outfit delivered Hackney Diamonds in the fall of 2023, and the set became a huge win all around the world. It’s rare for groups that have been together as long as The Rolling Stones to continue to churn out exciting chart wins, yet that’s exactly what the musicians in the band do…though not as frequently as they used to.

The band is back on a Billboard ranking with a brand new debut — although this time around, the set and the music aren’t actually new. Out of Our Heads arrives this week on the Top Album Sales chart, entering the list, which tracks the bestselling full-lengths and EPs in the United States via any format, including CD, vinyl, cassette, and digital downloads, at No. 34.

Longtime fans of The Rolling Stones already know Out of Our Heads well. The project was first released in 1965 and remains one of the group’s earliest collections. The full-length was reissued for Record Store Day, and quickly became a bestseller in America. Out of Our Heads was repressed on clear vinyl with a special lithograph print, and this edition was mastered directly from the original first-generation analog mono album master tape.

Luminate reports that in the past tracking frame in the U.S. alone, Out of Our Heads sold a little more than 4,700 copies. That figure rose sharply from fewer than 50 copies sold the previous period, when fans didn’t have a big reason to rush out and pick it up. That means that from one frame to the next, the collection soared more than 16,700% in pure purchases.

Throughout the decades, The Rolling Stones have now sent 43 different projects to the Top Album Sales chart. 15 of those have cracked the top 10, but amazingly, the group has never reached No. 1. Several titles, such as Forty Licks, Voodoo Lounge, Blue & Lonesome, and Hackney Diamonds, have all peaked in the runner-up spot, and the rockers are still waiting to collect a bestselling album in America — at least since this particular tally was introduced.

Out of Our Heads makes its debut on the Top Album Sales chart this week, but this isn’t the first time the collection has reached the Billboard rankings. When the title was new, it actually rose all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard 200, which back in the 1960s measured pure sales — though now that tally is focused on total consumption, as streams also factor into where a project lands.

The Rolling Stones’ Out of Our Heads is one of 28 debuts on the 50-spot Top Album Sales chart this week. That’s a huge number, and Record Store Day is responsible for the deluge. Despite the group’s incredible popularity, the rockers claim the eighteenth-highest rising win, coming in behind fellow classic favorites like Rage Against the Machine, Talking Heads, David Bowie, and The Doors, among others.

The U.S. version of Out of Our Heads differs significantly from its U.K. counterpart. While the British release focused more heavily on R&B covers, the American edition included the band’s original smash hit “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” which helped the set stand out and propelled both it and the Stones themselves to worldwide fame.