The Rolling Stones – Emotional Rescue (UK)

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So, punk was going to finish off the Rolling Stones? They made fun of that prediction by releasing one of their most acclaimed albums for years in Some Girls in 1978. Then the follow-up showed that they were more than ready for the new decade. Emotional Rescue, released on June 20, 1980, hit the US chart summit in just its second week, on July 26.

That was the start of what became, at the time, their longest album run at No.1 in America. Emotional Rescue stayed there all through August and well into September. That seven-week reign was then trumped by the Stones album that followed just 14 months later. That swift follow-up, Tattoo You, spent a towering nine weeks in pole position.

Not that everything was entirely hunky dory in the Stones’ camp around the time of the 1980 success. For one thing, Bill Wyman was becoming more vocal about his plans to leave the group within a couple of years. He didn’t finally, and officially, cut the ties until the beginning of 1993.