Forty Licks is a double compilation album by the Rolling Stones. A 40-year career-spanning retrospective, Forty Licks is notable for being the first retrospective to combine their formative Decca/London era of the 1960s, now licensed by ABKCO Records (on disc one), with their self-owned post-1970 material, distributed at the time by Virgin/EMI but now distributed by ABKCO's own distributor Universal Music Group (on mostly disc two). Four new songs are included on the second disc. The album was a commercial success, as it reached No. 2 on both UK and US charts. Concurrently with the album's release, the Stones embarked on the successful, year-long international Licks Tour, which would result in the subsequent Live Licks album being released in 2004.
Background
In 1970, the Rolling Stones had an acrimonious break-up with their former manager, Allen Klein, and their former record label, Decca Records (who licensed their recordings to London Records for release in the US). Because of the terms of their former contract, all of their pre-1970 recordings were under Klein's control, up to and including Let It Bleed, some tracks that made it on Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St., as well as outtakes, unreleased recordings, and live recordings. The Stones would immediately form Rolling Stones Records as a result, that gave them control over all of their subsequent recordings. As a result, any career retrospectives tended to be divided into two eras: prior to the split, and after the split. Klein's ABKCO Records and Decca Records would continue to release unauthorized greatest-hits records, outtakes and rarities records, and other compilations throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Any compilations or retrospectives released by the Rolling Stones after 1970, by any of their distributors or partners (such as Atlantic Records or Virgin Records) were always restricted to material recorded and released from 1971 onward. Because of various business deals and mergers of various record companies over time, the barriers to creating a unified retrospective compilation album had been resolved by the early 2000s.
For the release of Forty Licks, the band recorded 4 new songs in the studio, which are included on disc 2: "Don't Stop", "Keys to Your Love", "Stealing My Heart" and "Losing Your Touch".
Critical reception
Forty Licks has received mostly positive reviews from music critics. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt that Forty Licks was similar to ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits because both were influenced by the Beatles' 1, but that Forty Licks had a better concept than ELV1S. Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone felt that there were several songs missing from the album, but that the compilation was exciting and the four new songs were much better than their other recent work.
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! scope="row"| Greek Albums (IFPI)
| 1
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! scope="row"| Polish Albums (OLiS)
| 16
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Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2002 year-end chart performance for Forty Licks
! scope="col"| Chart (2002)
! scope="col"| Position
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! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 38
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! scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)
| 25
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! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)
| 11
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! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)
| 32
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! scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)
| 15
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! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 28
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! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 20
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! scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 40
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! scope="row"| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)
| 31
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! scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)
| 20
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! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 19
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 79
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! scope="row"|Worldwide Albums (IFPI)
|13
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{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2003 year-end chart performance for Forty Licks
! scope="col"| Chart (2003)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 69
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! scope="row"| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)
| 20
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! scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)
| 88
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! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 101
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! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 56
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{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2006 year-end chart performance for Forty Licks
! scope="col"| Chart (2006)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 106
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{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2024 year-end chart performance for Forty Licks
! scope="col"| Chart (2024)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 82
|}
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2025 year-end chart performance for Forty Licks
! scope="col"| Chart (2025)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 90
|}