Radio host Howard Stern has said that *Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band* is his choice for the greatest album in music history. The article presents this as part of his longstanding admiration for The Beatles, whom he considers superior to The Rolling Stones.

In a 2020 conversation, Paul McCartney agreed with Stern’s Beatles-versus-Stones view and said the groups had different influences, with the Stones rooted in blues. McCartney also recalled the Stones following the Beatles’ move to America and psychedelic album. Released in 1967, *Sgt. Pepper* is described as a landmark that helped establish the album as a crafted work in its own right; producer Alan Parsons said it changed expectations about how records could be made.