Rod Stewart's Essential Songs: Inside His Five-Decade Career

Rod Stewart’s essential songs run from the raspy, mandolin-driven “Maggie May” that made him a star in 1971 through the disco-era “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and the sweeping American standards he later recorded for his multi-volume “Great American Songbook” series. Born in London in 1945, Stewart built that catalog across stints in the Jeff Beck Group and Faces before a solo career that has reportedly sold more than 120 million records worldwide. Here’s a guide to the songs, the eras, and the honors that define his five decades in music, plus where things stand as he heads toward 2027.

How did Rod Stewart get his start in music?

Rod Stewart got his start in London’s mid-1960s blues and rock scene, working a string of odd jobs — grave-digging among them, by his own frequently told account — before joining a run of bands that led to his solo career. He sang with the Jeff Beck Group starting in 1966, sharing a rhythm section with future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, and moved with Wood into Faces in 1969, the boozy, good-time rock band he fronted for the next several years. He was already recording as a solo artist at the same time, releasing his solo debut album in 1969 and juggling both projects until Faces wound down in the mid-1970s.

What made “Maggie May” his breakthrough song?

“Maggie May” was the single that turned Rod Stewart into a star, topping the charts in both the US and the UK in 1971 as part of his third solo album, “Every Picture Tells a Story.” The song’s loose, folk-rock arrangement and Stewart’s rasp were considered unusual for a hit single at the time — it was reportedly nearly left off the album as a B-side before radio DJs pushed it into rotation. “Every Picture Tells a Story” and “Maggie May” hit number one on the album and singles charts simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, a feat that cemented Stewart as a solo act separate from Faces.

What are Rod Stewart’s other essential songs?

Beyond “Maggie May,” Stewart’s essential songs span folk-rock, disco, and adult-contemporary pop across four more decades of hits. The table below is a starting point, not a complete list.

“Sailing,” originally a Sutherland Brothers song, became one of Stewart’s signature UK hits, reaching number one there twice — once on its original 1975 release and again after use in a BBC documentary. “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” marked his best-known move into disco and became his biggest US hit of the decade, while “Young Turks” and “Forever Young” carried him through the synth-pop 1980s.

How did Rod Stewart’s sound change over the decades?

Rod Stewart’s sound shifted from the raw folk-rock of his early solo albums to disco-tinged pop in the late 1970s, cooled through a quieter commercial stretch in the 1980s, and was revived twice more — first by 1990s adult-contemporary hits, then by a full pivot into pre-rock American pop standards. That second revival came through his “Great American Songbook” series, a multi-volume set of recordings of jazz-age and Tin Pan Alley classics that began in 2002 and became a surprise commercial success, introducing Stewart to an entirely different, older listening audience. The third volume in that series, “Stardust… The Great American Songbook Volume III,” won him a Grammy Award in 2004, decades after his first hits.

What awards and honors has Rod Stewart received?

Rod Stewart has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, first as a solo artist in 1994 and again in 2012 as a member of Faces, and was knighted by the UK in 2016. He was also inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. His 2016 Birthday Honours knighthood, awarded for services to music and charity, made him Sir Rod Stewart — a recognition that sits alongside a reported career total of more than 120 million records sold worldwide, a widely cited industry estimate rather than one official audited figure.

Is Rod Stewart still touring and making new music?

As of late September 2026, Rod Stewart is in the middle of an extended “One Last Time” farewell tour that now runs into August 2026, alongside a Las Vegas residency, and he has new material in the works with both Faces and as a solo artist. According to the tour’s own listings, the newly added 2026 dates begin March 13 in Uncasville, Connecticut, and run through an August 15 date in Kansas City, with stops including the Hollywood Bowl and Red Rocks Amphitheatre; a Las Vegas residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace is set for May 27–June 6 and August 18–29, 2026, with general public tickets for the newly added shows going on sale November 14, 2026. Separately, Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and former Faces drummer Kenney Jones have reportedly recorded around 11 new songs together, with Jones saying in interviews that a release is more realistic in 2026 than sooner. Stewart himself has said in interviews that he is also working on a country album and is roughly halfway through a separate album of original material, though neither has a confirmed title or release date as of this writing — worth confirming again closer to any actual release, since all of these projects were still described as in progress rather than finished.

The bottom line

Rod Stewart’s catalog holds up because it never stayed in one lane for long — folk-rock troubadour, disco hitmaker, MTV-era pop singer, and finally interpreter of pre-rock standards, each phase producing songs that still anchor classic-rock radio today. With a farewell tour, a Vegas residency, and at least three separate album projects reportedly still moving as of late September 2026, the five-decade run he’s known for hasn’t quite finished writing itself yet.