1) Every Breath You Take (1983)
Album: Synchronicity
Chart peaks: U.S. Hot 100 #1 (8 weeks), U.K. #1 (4 weeks)
Personnel / Production: Produced by Hugh Padgham & The Police; recorded at AIR Montserrat.
History & background:
Written by Sting at Ian Fleming’s Goldeneye retreat in Jamaica, “Every Breath You Take” pairs an icily beautiful guitar ostinato from Andy Summers with a lyric often misheard as romantic but intended as obsessive surveillance. The arrangement was painstakingly shaped in the studio—trialed in different feels before settling into its spare, hypnotic pulse—then filmed in an elegant black-and-white video that helped drive Synchronicity to blockbuster status. It became 1983’s biggest U.S. single and later took home Grammy honors, cementing the trio’s imperial phase and providing Sting with one of the most performed copyrights in BMI’s catalog.
2) Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (1981)
Album: Ghost in the Machine
Chart peaks: U.S. #3, U.K. #1
Personnel / Production: Produced by Hugh Padgham & The Police; sessions at Le Studio (Quebec) and AIR Montserrat; keyboards by Jean-Alain Roussel.
History & background:
Born from a 1976 demo Sting cut pre-Police, the song kept its piano-and-synth core even as Summers and Copeland “Police-ified” the arrangement over the original demo backbone. The track’s buoyant harmonic motion (toggling between D major/minor colors) and ecstatic chorus shot it to No. 1 in the U.K. and top-3 in the U.S., expanding the band’s sonic palette beyond their earlier, sparer reggae-punk hybrids and helping Ghost in the Machine become one of their most successful albums.
3) Message in a Bottle (1979)
Album: Reggatta de Blanc
Chart peaks: U.K. #1 (2 weeks)
Personnel / Production: Produced by Nigel Gray & The Police.
History & background:
The ultimate lonely-hearts anthem doubles as a rhythmic showcase: Copeland’s spring-loaded groove, Summers’ chiming arpeggios, and Sting’s urgent melody. Its tale of isolation—relieved by the discovery that “a hundred billion bottles” share the same plea—resonated enough to deliver the band their first U.K. No. 1 and define the open-air spaciousness that would become a Police hallmark.
4) Roxanne (1978/1979)
Album: Outlandos d’Amour
Chart peaks: U.S. #32, U.K. #12 (on 1979 reissue)
Personnel / Production: Produced by The Police; released by A&M after manager Miles Copeland heard the Surrey Sound sessions.
History & background:
Inspired by street life outside a Paris hotel, “Roxanne” began as a bossa nova before morphing into the nervy, reggae-tinged single we know—complete with Sting’s accidental atonal piano “thunk” left in the intro. Initially ignored in Britain, it broke the band in North America in early 1979 and, on reissue, hit No. 12 in the U.K., establishing The Police’s minimalist sound and catapulting them beyond the punk clubs.
5) Don’t Stand So Close to Me (1980)
Album: Zenyatta Mondatta
Chart peaks: U.K. #1; U.S. Top 10 (Hot 100 #10)
Personnel / Production: Produced by Nigel Gray & The Police.
History & background:
The band’s best-seller in Britain in 1980, this tale of teacher-student transgression pairs a slinky reggae verse with a rock-solid chorus. Cut during a whirlwind, tax-exile recording sprint for Zenyatta Mondatta, it delivered another U.K. No. 1 and cracked the U.S. Top 10, underscoring how deftly The Police could fuse taboo storytelling with radio-ready hooks.
6) Walking on the Moon (1979)
Album: Reggatta de Blanc
Chart peaks: U.K. #1
Personnel / Production: Produced by Nigel Gray & The Police.
History & background:
Legend has it Sting stumbled on the hook while pacing a Munich hotel room muttering “walking ’round the room,” later reframed as weightless romance. Sparse guitar voicings and dub-inflected drums create true negative space—the band sounding huge by playing less. It became the trio’s second U.K. No. 1 and a clinic in arrangement restraint that countless rock/reggae hybrids have chased since.
7) King of Pain (1983)
Album: Synchronicity
Chart peaks: U.S. #3; U.K. #17
Personnel / Production: Produced by Hugh Padgham & The Police.
History & background:
A cascade of bleak, imagistic metaphors rides a bright, locomotive groove—Sting’s diaristic writing filtered through the band’s peak pop craft. The single reached No. 3 in the U.S. and topped the Mainstream Rock chart, evidence that Synchronicity was more than one massive single; it was a sustained hit machine built on finely engineered tension and release.
8) Wrapped Around Your Finger (1983)
Album: Synchronicity
Chart peaks: U.S. #8; U.K. #7
Personnel / Production: Produced by Hugh Padgham & The Police.
History & background:
A slow-unfurling waltz of power dynamics and mythic name-checks, “Wrapped Around Your Finger” showcased The Police’s cinematic side. Its candle-lit video became an MTV staple, helping the track to the U.S. Top 10 while sustaining the album’s late-’83 chart dominance on both sides of the Atlantic.
9) De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da (1980)
Album: Zenyatta Mondatta
Chart peaks: U.S. #10; U.K. #5
Personnel / Production: Produced by Nigel Gray & The Police.
History & background:
A sly jab at political doublespeak and pop’s empty slogans, the song’s nonsense hook masked sharp critique. Built on a taut groove and luminous guitar figures, it became a cross-Atlantic hit and a set-list evergreen—proof that even The Police’s most playful choruses carried teeth.
10) Can’t Stand Losing You (1978/1979)
Album: Outlandos d’Amour
Chart peaks: U.K. #2 (1979 reissue)
Personnel / Production: Produced by The Police; banned artwork featuring Copeland on a melting ice block with a noose added controversy to its story.
History & background:
Released after “Roxanne,” the single stalled at No. 42 before surging to No. 2 on reissue, becoming the band’s commercial breakthrough at home. Its dark-humored lyric about teenage despair, clipped guitar stabs, and reggae afterbeat laid the DNA for the band’s early identity—spare, nervy, and impossible to ignore.
