A new album from The Rolling Stones can be expected sooner rather than later, as they have reportedly completed 13 new songs.
This would mark the band’s 25th studio album after the release of 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds‘ – their first full album release since 2005 – which included features from the likes of Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
The rock icons then took Hackney Diamonds on tour throughout North America with 20 massive shows, before apparently scrapping plans to bring the tour over to UK and Europe. The Times reported earlier this year that the band allegedly rejected a multi-million pound offer to perform four shows at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, The Times did state that a tour on this side of the ocean could be in line for 2026, which would coincide perfectly with the reported new album.
As first reported by The Sun, Jagger & co have reportedly been working on the follow-up to ‘Hackney Diamonds’ since April, with 13 songs being completed at Metropolis Studios in West London.
An apparent source told the outlet: “Originally, the plan was for them to bring their huge US tour to the UK and Europe this summer but promoters couldn’t get the dates to work. Instead the Stones decided to get back into the studio and put down their next album.”
Although nothing has been confirmed by the band, it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that a new album was going to hit the shelves soon enough. Before the release of their 24th album, Mick Jagger told The New York Times that he highly doubts it to be the “last Rolling Stones album” and that they were already “three-quarters through the next one”.
Guitarist Keith Richards joined Jagger in dropping hints, telling SiriusXM in November 2023: “There’s plenty more stuff left over. There’ll always be another album until we drop… This is what we do. We’ve gotta see this Rolling Stones through.”
Ronnie Wood shared a similar sentiment in an interview with NME: “Paul McCartney actually played on two tracks, one which we’ve got up our sleeves for, you know, more music to come. We cut about 23 songs and we only picked the first 12.”
Hackney Diamonds marked the bands first release since the death of their drummer Charlie Watts. Although it was believed that his final recordings featured on this album, these quotes from his bandmates about a large back-catalogue of unreleased tracks leaves fans with optimism that maybe we’ve not heard the last of the legendary drummer.
Fans will now be waiting patiently for an official announcement regarding a 25th Stones album. ‘Hackney Diamonds’ showed no signs of a loss of the magic that make The Rolling Stones so great, despite an 18 year gap between releases. NME gave the album a four-star review, calling it an “absolute barnstormer”. There is little doubt that the next album will pick up where they left off.
