Rolling Stones' 'Foreign Tongues' wins Billboard poll with 42% of the vote

The Rolling Stones just won Billboard’s weekly new music poll in a way that feels almost unfair. By the poll’s closing time on Sunday, July 10, fans chose the band’s newly released 14-track 'Foreign Tongues' as their favorite new music, landing at 42% of the vote.

That 42% matters because it was enough to clear multiple current-era competitors at once. 'Foreign Tongues' rose above new releases from artists including YEONJUN, Beyoncé and Feid. In other words, this was not a “genre fans show up for nostalgia” landslide. It was a direct audience vote against the week’s freshest challengers.

For context, Billboard notes that 'Foreign Tongues' is the Stones’ 25th full-length studio release, built as a landmark collection. The tracklist is 14 songs, including 12 new originals plus two covers. Those covers are Amy Winehouse’s "You Know I’m No Good" and Chuck Berry’s "Beautiful Delilah". That mix gives the album a built-in bridge: new material for long-time listeners, and recognizable touchpoints that help listeners decide quickly.

The project also comes with a distinctly modern production story, even with classic rock gravity behind it. The Stones recorded 'Foreign Tongues' with Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt at Metropolis Studios in West London. Billboard also points out a major “studio ecosystem” detail: the room reportedly hosted an impressive crowd of contributors, including Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Longtime collaborators Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford, and Steve Jordan also contributed. And critically for devotees, drums played by the late Charlie Watts are heard on "Hit Me in the Head," recorded during one of his final studio sessions before his 2021 death.

On the rollout side, Billboard highlights that singles "In the Stars" and "Jealous Lover" preceded the full album’s unveiling. That sequencing matters because it tells you how the attention was staged across the week. A poll is not just about what exists, it is about what is actively circulating in your feed, radio rotation, or playlist decisions. Here, fans arrived with a storyline already underway: teasers, then the complete album.

The Stones themselves also described the recording process as fast and intense. Mick Jagger recounted that it was “a very intense few weeks recording Foreign Tongues,” and that they had 14 tracks and “went as fast as we could.” He also said he liked the studio room because it is not too big, so you can feel the passion from everyone. Ronnie Wood added detail about the room vibe, describing it as “so creative,” and saying the full band was “on top form throughout the whole process,” often nailing it on the first take.

If you are looking for how this stacks up in Billboard’s actual ranking, the poll results show how decisive the Stones were without being exclusive to one demographic. Trailing behind 'Foreign Tongues' on the poll are YEONJUN’s No Labels: Part 02 with 36% of the vote. Beyoncé’s "Morning Dew (Donk)" is listed with nearly 8% of the vote, and Feid’s A Xon De Que has more than 7%. Those percentage splits hint at a broader second-order implication for labels and promoters: even when a week includes major pop and international releases, there can still be room for a legacy act to win the attention war, provided the album release is coherent, collaborative, and supported by an active pre-album single cycle.

For executives and boards, the strategic lesson is simple but uncomfortable: dominance is still about reach and momentum, not just newness. 'Foreign Tongues' is a 25th studio album that still captured the biggest audience share in a weekly contest. That suggests programming and marketing teams cannot treat legacy catalogs as a “secondary track.” They have to plan like the legacy artist is a heavyweight opening weekend, because sometimes, the crowd chooses them first. And when that happens, the gap between “iconic” and “currently relevant” gets smaller than anyone expects.