Music
Plus One
The 11 best Sting songs
With the Summer Of Sting just around the corner, it's time to rank his best tracks
Careers don’t come much more storied than Sting’s. From jazz maestro to punk rocker to pop star to musical composer, he’s done it all.
As frontman of pop-rockers The Police, Sting – along with guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland – conquered the world with a series of gigantic hits before they split in 1986. After that Sting went solo, where, apart from a hugely successful reunion tour in 2007, he has remained. As well as carrying his own legacy, he’s also worked with everyone from Alison Krauss and Sheryl Crow to Shaggy and Swedish House Mafia.
Next summer, he’ll take his STING 3.0 tour across the world, promising an evening full of big hits and deep cuts. Already confirmed are headline spots at Latitude and the Isle of Wight Festival, plus a string of UK outdoor shows to compliment a full US and European tour.
With a career that spans almost 50 years and record sales of more than 100 million albums, picking Sting’s best songs was damn near impossible, but we’ve given it our best. These are the best songs from Sting and The Police.
11. ‘Shape Of My Heart’
(Ten Summoner’s Tales, 1993)
A delicate one to start with, Sting’s tale of a gambler trying to find his way is beautifully arranged with a haunting guitar riff and a lasting melody. Initially an unassuming release – charting in the UK at No. 57 – ‘Shape Of My Heart’ has gone on to become one of Sting’s defining solo tracks. From R&B star Monica to rapper Juice WRLD, artists across a host of genres have sampled the brilliant guitar melody. The track also memorably played over the end of iconic action thriller, Leon.
10. ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’
(Ghost In The Machine, 1981)
Sting has always had an exquisite pop sensibility and that’s never more obvious than on ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’. A sun-kissed blast of power pop that just builds and builds and builds. Totally irresistible.
9. ‘If I Ever Lose My Faith In You’
(Ten Summoner’s Tales, 1993)
Sting’s most successful solo album is 1993’s Ten Summoner’s Tales, which opens with this arms aloft anthem. A strangely engineered track with a swing time signature and a swaggering chorus line, it’s a fusion of Sting the jazz man and Sting the stadium filler. It works though.
8. ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’
(Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980)
A dark track which showcases Sting’s ability to package the most taboo of topics into an iresstibly catchy pop song. A Lolita-esque tale of an illicit relationship between a teacher and a pupil, it melds synth pop, reggae rhythms and Sting’s taste for a gigantic chorus together gloriously.
7. ‘Englishman In New York’
(…Nothing Like The Sun, 1987)
The strong reggae influence that had been heard throughout The Police’s career didn’t leave Sting as he went solo. This eccentric and instantly memorable track blends an infectious groove with the lyrical wit that Sting made his trademark in The Police.
6. ‘Be My Girl – Sally’
(Outlandos d’Amour, 1978)
The Police are remembered for their anthemic hits (more of that in a minute) and their ability to fill stadiums right across the world, but the trio could be downright weird too. This is half a supremely hooky piece of pop rock from Sting and a spoken world piece from guitarist Andy Summers, who had written a poem about a man fell in love with a blow-up doll.
5. ‘Roxanne’
(Outlandos d’Amour, 1978)
It had to be in here. The Police’s timeless piece of dark pop and their first ever single. Inspired by the band’s trip to one of the seedier parts of Paris, the song tells the story of a man who falls in love with a sex worker and the fallout that ensues. As well as being a perfectly crafted pop song, it showcases Sting the storyteller, who was able to inject drama and narrative with his lyrics, while never sacrificing the hook.
4. ‘Can’t Stand Losing You’
(Outlandos d’Amour, 1978)
Reggae has been a defining influence for Sting, and remains so, to the extent that he made a full album with Shaggy in 2018 that earned him a GRAMMY for Best Reggae Album. That influence was first shown here, on The Police’s debut in 1978, with a groovy bass line underpinning a track that eventually charges forward into pure pop perfection.
3. ‘Every Breathe You Take’
(Synchronicity, 1983)
It would be impossible to create a list of Sting’s best songs and not put ‘Every Breathe You Take’ in the upper echelons. It’s not just a song, it’s a phenomenon. It was No.1 all over the world, and, in 2019, the track was officially certified as the song played the most times on radio, with more than 15 million plays.
Built around that haunting guitar refrain, it’s a dark piece of genius with an utterly compelling narrative and chorus.
2. ‘Next To You’
(Outlandos d’Amour, 1978)
‘Next To You’ is a world away from the scale and texture of a behemoth like ‘Every Breathe You Take’. A fast, turbocharged piece of punk rock with a super hook, it was the first track from the Police’s 1978 debut LP, Outlandos d’Amour, and it immediately marked them out as something special.
1. ‘Message In A Bottle’
(Regatta de Blanc, 1979)
Settling on Sting’s ultimate masterpiece was a difficult job. He’s covered just about every genre there is and created so many hits that will live forever, but ‘Message In A Bottle’ is the only obvious winner. It combines everything that defines Sting; a supremely catchy melody, every instrument precisely arranged to amplify the others, and a structure that morphes into a barnstormer.
