The single of the day ★ Don't Stop

'Don't Stop' was released as a 7" single in the UK exactly 23 years ago on December 16, 2002, where it peaked at #36.

Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, 'Don't Stop' was one of the 4 new tracks recorded for the 2002' 'Forty Licks' compilation album. At the time of release, Jagger commented: "Before the release of 'Forty Licks', I wrote 'Don't Stop' in the same period that I was writing the songs for my solo album ['Goddess In The Doorway'], and I just put it to one side and said to myself, 'This sounds very much like the Rolling Stones to me. It might be very useful in the coming months, but I'll leave it for now and I won't record it because I think it's going to be better for the Stones.'"

On the recording, which began in the early summer of 2002 at Guillaume Tell Studios, in Suresnes, Fran... [+]

Vintage distributors' jukebox strips are popular among collectors.

About the songs
Nearly 80 songs recorded by the Rolling Stones entered either the UK or US charts since 1963, twelve of them peaking at #1 ['Satisfaction', 'Get Off Of My Cloud', 'Paint It, Black' and 'Honky Tonk Women' were #1 in both countries].

The early years also were the most prolific and, whereas most titles were not yet penned by the Jagger-Richards tandem, record labels Decca [in the UK] and London [in the US] would issue singles at a frantic pace, building the band's reputation as the Beatles' most serious threat.

However, no global marketing strategy would emerge before the 70's, and both countries cultivated their differences in their respective discographies, as would their affiliates in other parts of the world.

The richness and diversity of the Rolling Stones singles discography is mainly due to the fact that, during the 60's, Decca would consider singles an independent market from the LPs' one, whereas London would use this format as a 'lift' for album sales. Therefore, British singles would offer non-album tracks [except for compilations], and Decca England would pass on a few US releases, while the US would opt for different B-sides and be a little more productive.

US exclusive couplings and singles would however often be released on Decca in Europe, notably in Scandinavia for which UK would exclusively press 'export' singles [Denmark, Sweden and Norway also pressed their own records and imported regular UK releases].