On 20 July 1965, Bob Dylan released "Like a Rolling Stone" as a single from his forthcoming album Highway 61 Revisited, a track that helped cement his shift from acoustic folk singer-songwriter to electric rock musician. Although its unconventional length and dense lyrics unsettled his record label and divided fans, the song became a critical and commercial breakthrough, marking Dylan's first major hit on the Billboard charts and cementing his international reputation.

Columbia Records was initially reluctant to release the track, as its six-minute runtime was twice the length of typical singles and its wordy, rock-inflected style clashed with the sound that had made Dylan famous. Once released, it reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and the top ten in ten countries, drawing on Hank Williams' 1949 song "Lost Highway" for inspiration rather than any connection to the Rolling Stones, whose name instead derives from a Muddy Waters song. Rolling Stone magazine, also named after that Muddy Waters track, later ranked Dylan's song number one on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" lists in 2004 and 2010.