Foreign Tongues debuts at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart as Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide blocks the rock legends from scoring a new No. 1. EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY – MAY 26: Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Steve Jordan , and Keith Richards and of The Rolling Stones perform during ‘Stones Tour ’24 Hackney Diamonds’ at MetLife Stadium on May 26, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
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The Rolling Stones are one of the biggest rock bands of all time, and have been known by the honorific essentially since the musicians first began releasing music more than half a century ago. Very few acts that reach the heights the Stones have manage to stick around for so long, and even those that do rarely continue reaching the loftiest tiers on charts all around the world with new music.
Most veteran groups and singers struggle to chart when they deliver new projects, while the Rolling Stones collect another top 10 almost every time the band drops a set of any kind. The outfit is back on rankings throughout the United States with Foreign Tongues, its twenty-seventh American studio album. The set debuts inside the top 10 on every list on which it appears in the country, including on one tally where it fails to lead by just one space.
The Rolling Stones Miss a New No. 1 by One Space
Foreign Tongues opens at No. 2 on the Top Rock Albums chart. The tally – one of several that look only at full-length and EPs in the rock space – measures the most-consumed projects in the U.S. with a blend of sales and streams.
For a group as commercially dominant as the Rolling Stones, especially on a roster devoted to rock, a runner-up opening is somewhat surprising. Foreign Tongues misses out on becoming another leader by one rung as one of 2026’s most successful albums refuses to move.
Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide holds at No. 1 for a twelfth consecutive week. The collection became his second Top Rock Albums champion when it debuted at the summit in early May, and it has yet to vacate the position. Kahan’s first ruler, Stick Season, managed an incredible 71 frames in charge.
The Rolling Stones Have Ruled Twice Before
The Rolling Stones have conquered the Top Rock Albums chart with only two previous releases. Blue & Lonesome became the group’s first leader when it started its time at No. 1 in December 2016, and it remained in control for a full month.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 22: Noah Kahan performs onstage as Spotify Presents Noah Kahan: The Great Divide at Pioneer Works on April 22, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Spotify)
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More than three years later, a reissue of Goats Head Soup brought the band back to the summit. That title reached No. 1 in September 2020 and held there for just one frame.
Three Rolling Stones Albums Have Peaked at No. 2
Foreign Tongues becomes the third Rolling Stones collection to peak at No. 2, which means the band has now earned more runners-up than champions. Hackney Diamonds, the group’s most recent studio effort before this month, topped out in second place in November 2023. Tattoo You stalled in the same spot.
The Rolling Stones have now placed 22 projects on the Top Rock Albums ranking, and 14 of them have reached the top 10.
Here are all of the Rolling Stones’ top 10s on the Top Rock Albums chart.
- Blue & Lonesome
- Exile on Main St.: Rarities Edition
- Foreign Tongues
- Forty Licks
- Goats Head Soup
- GRRR!
- Hackney Diamonds
- Honk
- Hot Rocks 1964–1971
- Hyde Park Live
- Live at the El Mocambo
- Martin Scorsese: Shine a Light (Soundtrack)
- On Air
- Tattoo You
The Rolling Stones Conquer the American Sales Chart
The Rolling Stones do manage to rule one of the five Billboard rankings where Foreign Tongues debuts. The set starts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, which focuses on purchases of full-lengths and EPs and which does not incorporate streaming activity.
Foreign Tongues is, amazingly, the group’s first champion among its 45 appearances on the sales-only tally. It also becomes the Stones’ sixteenth top 10, as more than one-third of all the band’s entries have pushed into the highest tier.
The project starts at No. 3 on another two rosters. It earns the Rolling Stones a twelfth top 10 on the Vinyl Albums chart and a thirteenth on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums ranking – the slightly bigger and more encompassing genre list that includes projects classified as either rock or alternative in style.
The Rolling Stones Extend an All-Time Top 10 Record
1964: Rock and roll band “The Rolling Stones” pose for a portrait in 1964. (L-R) Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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Foreign Tongues launches lowest on the Billboard 200, though its No. 7 debut is still another major win. That arrival gives the Rolling Stones a thirty-ninth top 10 on the roster. The band extends its lead for the most placements inside that region in the chart’s history, and Foreign Tongues becomes its sixty-second title to appear anywhere on the 200-space list.