The Last 40 Years Of Rolling Stones Singles, Ranked!

A quote from my Rolling Stones Album Guide, pt. 2:

There’s forty years left to the story, but my detailed assessment ends here, as I’ve yet to find an album from those decades worth owning...but releasing at least ten albums I love to play is more than twice what most great bands achieve, so far be it from me to condemn their refusal to retire, or God’s refusal to make them.

I assumed that would be that. I doubted some hour-long product after ’84 would blow my mind on revisit, and - certainly after Hackney Diamonds - a new Rolling Stones song worth anyone’s time seemed absurd. But, on a whim, I checked out their latest single, "In The Stars," released earlier this month. Absurdly, my mind was blown. I’ve enjoyed comparing early World Party to the Mick Jagger solo output people wanted, and didn’t get, at the time: warm, wry and gregarious, winking at the ‘60s but not beholden to it. While “In The Stars” wasn’t art, it had a chorus worthy of World Party! I actually wanted to hear it again! Immediately! I hadn’t wanted to hear a Stones song twice since…since..when?

The Bridges To Babylon singles seemed neat at the time, but felt awfully corny after the world stopped going “ooh, The Dust Brothers.” Voodoo Lounge got old before they were done promoting it…and both those albums came out when I was in high school. I did ask for the “Mixed Emotions” cassingle for Christmas ‘89, and wound up getting “Rock And A Hard Place” instead. Was “In The Stars” my favorite single since that? Their best in almost forty years?!

Where most people would let the mystery be, the nerd within demanded I do my due diligence before committing to such a take. So I've revisited the band’s entire singles discography since Dirty Work, which turned 40 in March. The experience was a lot less grotesque than I expected, or maybe I just found it easier to tap into my affection for the band in this context. Was “In The Stars” really that impressive, or was it merely the first time in ages I heard a new song sans visual reminder of what a hoary commercial enterprise the Stones became? How about I reveal all…with a listicle! A listicle featuring every Rolling Stones single from Dirty Work on, skipping live versions of old hits, remixes of old hits, or outtakes from deluxe edition reissues.

With rare exception, I find “every song, ranked” pieces to be excruciating slogs. But it felt right to indulge the format here, especially since it's only a couple dozen songs. It’s not like I'm checking off the deep cuts. I’m definitely not making you scroll through hundreds of them, praying ad tech won’t crash your browser, just to find out where I put “Happy” or “Mother’s Little Helper.” While my blurbs here get nicer sooner than I expected them to, almost nothing on this list would even challenge “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” on a complete singles survey. 

I’m including each song’s highest chart peak, according to the better angels at Wikipedia.

37. “Out Of Control” (1998, #12 Poland)
This was released as a single after Fugazi’s End Hits, but Bridges To Babylon came out before End Hits was recorded, so I want to believe Brendan Canty aped the beat. I wouldn’t assume any other member of Fugazi heard this slow boat to nowhere, however.

36. “Out Of Tears” (1994, #2 Canadian Adult Contemporary)
If this back-half-of-Layla piano ballad ever came on in a bar or restaurant, I’d pray to be with someone I could troll with “is this the Afghan Whigs?” It would be a troll, though: Mick Jagger is even less convincing claiming stoic heartbreak than Greg Dulli is claiming he’s holding a gun on a jive turkey.

35. “Living In A Ghost Town” (2020, #1 Germany)

Docked several notches for not just being a Specials cover. Maybe the name “Terry Hall” was too triggering for Mick?

34. “Sex Drive” (1991, #24 Netherlands)
Arguably an improvement on “Hot Stuff,” if you don’t mind Jagger sounding like a priapic Satchmo.

33. “Mess It Up” (2024, #15 US Adult Alternative)
The verses suggest Mick’s life has been ruined by a sexy hacker (“you stole my codes…you shared my photos”), but the chorus suggests she’s worried he’ll mess up her life. Nothing about this shimmering, slightly reggaefied ‘80s throwback suggests we’re supposed to think that hard about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is based on a decades-old demo meant for the Pretty Woman soundtrack.

32. “Winning Ugly” (1986, #10 US Mainstream Rock)
“Hey Mick, we love it, but we’ve changed the name of the movie from Winning Ugly to Ruthless People. I’m so sorry, we love the track but…what? You’ll make a new one? Wow! Yeah, same vibe, opening credits, it’ll probably be over a montage of LA or some chic animation…what? Yeah, you can have the rights to 'Ugly' back, of course. Why?”

31. “Streets Of Love” (2005, #1 Spain)
You might crack wise that Mick said he was out of tears a decade earlier, but he’s saying the streets of love are full of tears. He’s not crying, he’s just indulging in cliche imagery for a ballad.

30. “Angry” (2023, #1 UK Singles Sales)
The first song we heard from the Stones after they lost Charlie Watts in the drum seat and gained boomer whisperer Andrew Watt in the producer’s chair. It’s very shiny and professional, though the defensiveness of the sentiment undercuts the triumphant tone. 

29. “Rain Fall Down” (2005, #13 US Adult Alternative)
On this one, the streets of fuck are full of rain.

28. “Sad Sad Sad” (1989, #14 US Mainstream Rock)
A very pleasant, generic up-tempo stomp, with an odd break around a minute thirty in that resembles some Eno-Roxy trickery blurring the guitars and horns. It passes quickly, but exists.

27. “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven (feat. Lady Gaga)” (2023, #2 UK Singles Sales)
I assumed this would be excruciating bellowfest, but I forget part of Lady Gaga’s endurance comes from her mutability. Ersatz Madonna on this song, ersatz Streisand on that song. Here, she’s a generic soul sister. I assume long-time back-up singer Lisa Fischer could handle this fine when Gaga isn’t town. Maybe I wouldn’t have been so surprised by the “In The Stars” had I known how surprisingly tasteful - if also ordinary - this seven-minute gospel exercise is. At least until Gaga and Mick turn into birds playing “marco polo.” 

26. “Rough And Twisted” (2026, “extremely limited physical only release”)
I think I get why the olds love to work with Andrew Watt so much. He produces musical performances that are credible and spirited - dig the slide break on this stomp! - but he doesn’t try to make Hall Of Famers write as memorably as they did in their youth. It’s tempting to call him “Andrew Wallpaper,” but that’s not entirely fair. He's just incredibly canny about where veteran artists can hope to sound fresh and modern, and where they should probably stick to their lane.

25. “Biggest Mistake” (2006, #27 Italy)
I remember being taken aback by this on the radio at the time, amused to hear Jagger delivering such mundane imagery as “I'm becoming a grouch/ I just watch the TV and I drink on the couch.” Was this their best country-rock single since “Honky Tonk Women”? At least because I find “Far Away Eyes” more embarrassing than a Mama’s Family marathon?

24. “Harlem Shuffle” (1986, #1 New Zealand)
I go back and forth about whether this is coolly definitive, or the Stones’ version of hold music. Right now, I’m leaning towards the latter.

23. “Ride ‘Em On Down” (2016, #4 US Sales)
Impressively low on the Blueshammer scale of bar band offensiveness.

22. “Doom And Gloom” (2005, #3 Netherlands)
A problem with listicles that ascend in quality: I want to say this song is a slightly unsatisfying cross between “Don’t Stop” and “Highwire,” spirited and political, but a touch too cute about it. The problem is I haven’t discussed “Don’t Stop” and “Highwire” yet! I can’t compliment the guitar lick that imitates Lisa Germano’s violin because I haven’t referenced John Mellencamp yet! So feel free to double back on this one.

21. “Anybody Seen My Baby?” (1997, #1 Canada)
The novelty of the hip-hop breaks is welcome in this “Miss You” re-write, the interpolation of “Constant Craving” and the digital cropping of the Keith riff fitting in with the conceit. But Jagger murmuring about “flavor” sure ain’t welcome. I’m sure Puerto Rican MILFs were still dying to meet him, though. 

20. “Don’t Stop” (2002, #1 US Heritage Rock)
Is this the Stones’ best country-rock single since the ‘70s? Not that it sounds like country as a classic Stones fan knows it. Rather, it recalls a young Johnny Cougar twirling in front of bald Watts acolyte Kenny Aaronoff, which would sure be country this century. Mellencamp fans who wish he’d throw out some clap-happy bubblegum instead of another dusty museum piece called The Freedom Of Narcissus should make sure they caught this single attached to Forty Licks. 

19. “Highwire” (1991, #1 Luxembourg)
I remember hearing a lot about how political this song was in my youth, and the lyrics do get awfully specific about military policy compared to “Voices That Care” (“Another Munich we just can’t afford/ we’re going to send in the 82nd Airborne”). But if you’re not paying attention, Ronnie Wood’s spiraling steel-guitar solo is a lot more memorable.

18. “Rough Justice” (2005, #1 US Heritage Rock)
A Bigger Bang was mostly recorded by Richards, Watts and Jagger (often playing bass!) alone, before adding overdubs. This led to an endearingly earthy sound compared to the stabs at pop modernity that preceded it. But if you aren’t aching for proof the Stones “still got it,” the songs themselves were just ok. There’s a real hoot and holler, old school energy here, almost “Brown Sugar”-level. But there’s also a double entendre about “cocks” in the first verse, and by the last he’s rhyming “young gazelle” with "bat out of hell.” They did this song at the Super Bowl and you probably forgot.

17. “Just Your Fool” (2016, #1 US Digital Blues Songs)
"#1 US Digital Blues" kinda sums it up.

16. “Almost Heard You Sigh” (1990, #1 US Mainstream Rock)
Did they record this in a sauna? Every sound is beyond lush and buried in echo, but the effect is to normalize the howler monkey venting his heartbreak, buttressing him in harmony rather than hiding behind him.

15. “Love Is Strong” (1994, #1 Spain)
With Mick muttering and Keith loud and proud, this sticks out for a lot of people as the last time the Stones sounded like the Stones. And if Richards is your alpha and omega, this is the closest the Stones ever got to recreating the energy of his solo albums like Talk Is Cheap. If only Jagger wasn’t such a leering cornball on it! I know most debates about whether the Rolling Stones are too old and embarrassing predate my existence. They were pioneers of indulgent, veteran combo-hood as soon as the Beatles split, and quickly looked more geriatric than they actually were. But I feel like Jagger moaning “you make me hard” right before Woodstock ’94 was a big Can The Times Change Already?! moment for a lot of people.

14. “Like A Rolling Stone - Live” (1995, #7 Sweden)
This live chestnut is included because it’s not a rowdy rendition of an old Stones song. Though the band certainly does rough justice to Dylan (Charlie sounds the least engaged, oddly), it’s Mick that sells it for me. You can tell he loves the lyric, and truly wants to pull it off. A rare occurrence for a ringmaster mostly known for barking while doing aerobics on stage.

13. “Oh No, Not You Again” (2005, #34 US Mainstream Rock)
Another proud reiteration of the band’s ruckus from A Bigger Bang, with no references to animals at all! Still, it’s still not likely to make their Top 20 kiss-offs ever.

12. “Rock And A Hard Place” (1989, #1 US Mainstream Rock)
I don’t know. I had it on cassingle.

11. “One More Shot” (2013, #13 US Heritage Rock)
I'd accept I might be overrating the second single from the GRRR! compilation, until I get to the “alovalovalove…alovealovealove” bridge that leads into the slide solo. That might be the most unabashed, exuberant moment in their discography since "Start Me Up.” 

10. “Sparks Will Fly” (1995, #30 US Mainstream Rock)
As someone unimpressed by “Star Star” or “Short And Curlies,” I swear the placement of this high-kicking blitz is less about Jagger screaming “I wanna fuck your sweet ass,” then him following the profanity with “sparks will fly…sharks will cry.” That’s what caught my ear first.

9. “Terrifying” (1990, #8 US Mainstream Rock)
Does it make this simmering, saucy groove more or less sexy to learn the extended instrumental outro involves a Waterboy on trumpet and Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason on rototoms? Who let them in the hot tub? Personally, I dig the surprise.

8. “Hate To See You Go” (2016, #1 US Digital Blues)
Some Stones fans were thrilled to see these guys paying tribute to Chess Records again with Blue & Lonesome, others thought they did Chess as good as they were gonna by 1964. While I definitely suggest fans make sure they check out the Chess originals and the Stones in ’64 first, this track in particular shows Jagger’s interpretive skills in fine form. As the song goes on, he starts to lose himself between the harmonica solos, his voice turning deeper rather than more aloof. It might be the closest he’s come to commanding from the gut rather than the mind. Something Jagger rarely even attempts.

7. “I Go Wild” (1995, #20 US Mainstream Rock)
Hearing Mick Jagger in song after song, decade after decade, screaming he’s got what Mojo Nixon called “the demon jizz’m build-up,” gets awfully tiresome. But, in isolation, “I Go Wild” benefits from a slow burn and an acid tongue. Keith & company milk a hypnotic riff, as the braying jerk who once fantasized about being a plantation owner says “slavery should not exist,” and admits he can “act like a goat" (that's in lower case, kids). And where “Some Girls” got proudly dumb about sex & race, the “doctor”’s list of archetypes to avoid here is just as profane (“politicians’ garish wives/ with alcoholic cunts like knives”) without pretending to wisdom. 

6. “Saint Of Me” (1998, #7 US Adult Alternative)
I almost regret this isn’t a Mick solo song. One, because this autumnal preen could totally be his “My Way.” Two, because that drum loop barely sounds like Charlie at all. Three, because Keith didn’t even pretend to be on it. That’s Waddy from the X-Pensive Winos playing lead. But if Jagger can get to the grave without cancellation, this would be my pick for the memorial montage.

5. “You Got Me Rocking” (1994, #2 US Mainstream Rock)
Putting this in the top 5 might be controversial, as plenty of fans resent its longevity in the band’s setlist well beyond the requirements of promoting current product. But I get why it’s stuck around: it’s a stadium rock song so dumb and catchy AC/DC would be proud to own it. A legendary ‘60s band making a good ‘80s AC/DC song in the ‘90s? That feels like an accomplishment to me.

4. “One Hit (To The Body)” (1986, #3 US Mainstream Rock)
I understand the kinky appeal of Dirty Work for some. To paraphrase my album guide, for once it’s the band aiming for contemporary sheen while Jagger just pounds away on top. But I can only take so much of the puke-and-pummel. This song - with the novelty of a Jimmy Page solo included - serves as my token acknowledgment of that weird, weird moment.

3. “Flip The Switch” (1997, #14 US Mainstream Rock)
Dirty Work/A Bigger Bang enthusiast Robert Christgau highlighted this track in his modest honorable mention for Bridges To Babylon (entire text: “still know how to construct, play and —sometimes—sing a song"), and he was right to do it. Genius says it’s the second fastest song in the band's career, beat only by “Rip This Joint.” The gleeful nihilism of the lyric is worthy of Bon Scott AC/DC, and the backing vocals sound uglier than the Young brothers. Meanwhile, a baritone sax puts Morphine in the mix. The novelty of these elements might not have stood out in the late '90s, but it sure sounds delicious now. If I was employed as a guru on their next album, I’d play it for them before retiring to the couch.

2. “Mixed Emotions” (1989, #1 Canada)
The one I wanted on cassingle. Sounds like my childhood, when adult swim meant “get out of the pool for fifteen minutes, the grown-ups need to wade freely” instead of wacky animation. When this was one of twenty Top 20 hits sung by people over 40 that year. When they got Steel Meals On Wheels jokes despite not being 50. When, worried the band would split into solo careers, fans were delighted to hear Jagger shout “butt” over that righteous twin-guitar chug. The cassingle goes for about ten dollars now. Maybe I need the closure.

1. “In The Stars” (2026, #29 Dutch Single “Tip” Chart - songs just outside the Dutch Top Singles chart. But more impressive peaks may still be reported!) 
This may lose its novelty someday, and let “Saint Of Me” return to the Top 5. I can’t pretend to care about the verse lyrics much, but oh…those background vocals on the chorus! That piano! The guitar solos! You did it, Andrew Wallpaper! Elton John must have been crying with jealousy hearing this! So warm and triumphant! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! I also like how it sounds like he’s saying “it’s in the stars for the USA” instead of “in our destiny.” For indeed, who knows what will come for us all. And, the least Mick and Keith can do is churn up a little optimism for us commoners without private islands, before milking us on tour. Not that I’ll go. But if I did, I’d be shouting for this one. And “Mixed Emotions.”

Here's links to my views on the first decade of Rolling Stones albums, and the second. If you want to debate the placement of anything here, weird. I can be contacted at anthonyisright at gmail dot com, though.