Aftermath

Decca released the British edition on 15 April 1966. It was Record Retailer's number one for eight weeks and the fourth biggest UK seller of 1966. London issued the shorter American edition in late June, which dropped four songs and opened with Paint It Black. It reached number two on the Billboard 200, behind the Beatles' Yesterday and Today, went Gold in August 1966, and Platinum in 1989. The British version runs 52:23 and the American 42:35.

The band cut it in breaks between tours, with Dave Hassinger engineering. Richards played most of the guitar because Jones was often unavailable, and the working title Could You Walk on the Water? was rejected by the label. Wyman argued that Paint It Black should have been credited to Nanker Phelge, the group's collective pseudonym, and Jack Nitzsche thought Jones deserved a co-credit on Under My Thumb.

Record Mirror's Richard Green called it the smash LP of the year in 1966, and Robert Christgau described it as a distillation of everything that rock and blues are about.