Sticky Fingers is the ninth British and 11th American studio album by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in April 1971. It is the band's first album of the 1970s and its first release on the band's newly formed label, Rolling Stones Records, after having been contracted since 1963 with Decca Records in the UK and London Records in the US. It is also Mick Taylor's first full-length appearance on a Rolling Stones album, the first Rolling Stones album not to feature any contributions from guitarist and founder Brian Jones and the first one on which singer Mick Jagger is credited with playing guitar.

Sticky Fingers is widely regarded as one of the Rolling Stones' best albums. It achieved triple platinum certification in the US and contains songs such as the chart-topping "Brown Sugar", the country ballad "Dead Flowers", "Wild Horses", "Can't You Hear Me Knocking", and the sweeping ballad "Moonlight Mile".

Sticky Fingers hit the number one spot on the British charts in May 1971, remaining there for four weeks before returning at number one for a further week in mid June. In the US, the album hit number one within days of release, and stayed there for four weeks. In Germany it was one of only two non-German albums to reach number one in 1971.

In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times, music critic Robert Hilburn said that although Sticky Fingers is one of the best rock albums of the year, it is only "modest" by the Rolling Stones' standards and succeeds on the strength of songs such as "Bitch" and "Dead Flowers", which recall the band's previously uninhibited, furious style. Jon Landau, writing in Rolling Stone, felt that it lacks the spirit and spontaneity of the Rolling Stones' previous two albums and, apart from "Moonlight Mile", is full of "forced attempts at style and control" in which the band sounds disinterested, particularly on formally correct songs such as "Brown Sugar". In a positive review, Lynn Van Matre of the Chicago Tribune viewed the album as the band "at their raunchy best" and wrote that, although it is "hardly innovative", it is consistent enough to be one of the year's best albums.

Sticky Fingers was voted the second best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1971. Lester Bangs voted it number one in the poll and said that it was his most played album of the year. Robert Christgau, the poll's creator, ranked the album 17th on his own year-end list. In a 1975 article for The Village Voice, Christgau suggested that the release was "triffling with decadence", but might be the Rolling Stones' best album, approached only by Exile on Main St. (1972). In his 1980 review of the album, he wrote that it reflected how unapologetic the band was after the Altamont Free Concert and that, despite the concession to sincerity with "Wild Horses", songs such as "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" and "I Got the Blues" are as "soulful" as "Good Times", and their cover of "You Gotta Move" is on-par with their previous covers of "Prodigal Son" and "Love in Vain".

In 1994, Sticky Fingers was ranked number ten in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. He stated, "Dirty rock like this has still to be bettered, and there is still no rival in sight." In a retrospective review, Q magazine said that the album was "the Stones at their assured, showboating peak ... A magic formula of heavy soul, junkie blues and macho rock". NME wrote that it "captures the Stones bluesy swagger" in a "dark-land where few dare to tread". Record Collector magazine said that it showcases Jagger and Richards as they "delve even further back to the primitive blues that first inspired them and step up their investigations into another great American form, country." In his review for Goldmine magazine, Dave Thompson wrote that the album still is superior to "most of The Rolling Stones’ catalog". In 2003, Sticky Fingers was listed as No. 63 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

In 1994, Sticky Fingers was remastered and reissued by Virgin Records. This remaster was initially released in a Collector's Edition CD, which replicated in miniature many elements of the original vinyl album packaging, including the zipper. 

Tracklist CD

Track Titel Zeit Besonderheit

1. Brown Sugar 3:50

2. Sway 3:45

3. Wild Horses 5:41

4. Can't You Hear Me Knocking 7:17

5. You Gotta Move 2:23 C

6. Bitch 3:42

7. I Got The Blues 4:00

8. Sister Morphine 5:34

9. Dead Flowers 4:05

10. Moonlight Mile 5:56

I = Instrumental L = Live B = Bonustrack H = Hidden Track C = Coversong

LP originally released in 1971. 

Recorded on the Rolling Stones Mobile, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio and at Olympic Studios, London. 

Digitally remastered using UV22 Super CD encoding by Apogee Electronics, Santa Monica, California. 

℗ 1971 Virgin Benelux B.V. © 1971 Promotone B.V. 

CD in special mini-vinyl sleeve with metal zipper. 

This US release was imported to Europe and has a sticker on back side of case with the following codes: 

UK: CDVX 2730 

F: PM 527 

D: LC 3098 

Printed in the USA