Keith Richards' GTA 6 cover premieres, album lands Nov 19

Keith Richards' cover of Jimmy Reed's 'Bright Lights, Big City' premiered on Rayo on September 17, one of six tracks Rockstar is releasing early from the official 34-song GTA 6 soundtrack. The full album lands November 19, the same day Grand Theft Auto VI ships on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

The choice of Richards is a signal. The Rolling Stones guitarist is the latest legacy act to lend his name to a Rockstar soundtrack, a tradition that stretches back to the original Vice City and its wall-to-wall 1980s hits. For a game set in Leonida, a fictionalized Florida, a blues standard fits the landscape, all swamps, strip malls and neon. It is a song about leaving a small town for the big city, which is essentially the plot of every Grand Theft Auto game ever made.

Richards is 82, and the track reaches back to his own beginnings. The Stones recorded a demo of 'Bright Lights, Big City' in 1963, and it stayed in the vault for nearly 50 years until the 'GRRR!' boxset released it in 2012. His GTA 6 version plays harder than Reed's 1961 original, with more force on the guitar, a drawl that mixes Mississippi and Dartford, and no harmonica solo, carried straight through to the fade.

The early release strategy is new for Rockstar. Instead of holding the entire soundtrack until launch, the company is dribbling out six songs over the final weeks before release, giving fans a reason to keep checking in. It also sets the tone for the game's radio stations, which have always been a character in their own right. The Richards track is the kind of deep cut that suggests the in-game stations will lean into Southern rock, blues and country, not just the synthwave that dominated the trailers.

For players, the tracklist matters as much as the gameplay. GTA 6, which costs $79.99 for the Standard edition and $99.99 for the Ultimate edition, has been in pre-order since June. The soundtrack album arriving on launch day means you can queue it up before the download finishes, or use it to get in the mood for Vice City. Rockstar has not confirmed which in-game station will carry the Richards track, or how the 34 songs will be split across the radio dial.

The cover lands right after a busy year for the Stones. Their 25th studio album 'Foreign Tongues' topped the charts in July on the strength of the singles 'In the Stars' and 'Jealous Lover.' No tour dates have been announced in support of it, so the GTA 6 premiere is the band's most visible new release since. Listeners can hear the track on Planet Rock across DAB, the Rayo app, online, or by asking a smart speaker to play the station.

The six early tracks are a preview, not the full picture. Rockstar has not published the complete tracklist, and the album's 34 songs will likely only be a fraction of what plays across the game's multiple stations. Past GTA games have shipped with hundreds of licensed tracks, so the soundtrack album is best read as a curated highlight reel rather than the whole library.

What is confirmed is the date. GTA 6 launches November 19, 2026, on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with pre-load opening November 12. The soundtrack's arrival on the same day as the game is a deliberate move, one that ties the music to the moment players first step into Leonida. With two months to go, expect more early drops between now and launch.

The song choice also says something about the story. GTA 6 follows Lucia and Jason through Vice City and the wider Leonida, and 'Bright Lights, Big City' is a song about being knocked sideways by a place that promises more than it delivers. That is the same tension that drives every GTA campaign, and hearing it on the official album before the game even installs sets the mood for the opening hours.