What Are Sting’s 5 Biggest US Hits?

Sting left The Police while that band was still at the very height of their prodigious powers. He had a solo career to launch, and it wasn’t long before he was right back there near the top of the US pop charts.

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Sting enjoyed a bevy of Top 40 singles, but five of them made it all the way to the Top 10. These songs made the biggest dent on the charts for him.

5. “Fortress Around Your Heart” – No. 8 in 1985

It’s not all that surprising that Sting wanted to leave behind most traces of The Police’s sound on his first solo album. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles tries just about everything, including jazz, reggae, and classical. “Fortress Around Your Heart” sounds the closest to something that Sting might have delivered with his old band. Icy music in the verses opens up into a thrilling chorus. Sting also deals in some ornate metaphors as he speaks of his devotion to his significant other.

4. “We’ll Be Together” – No. 7 in 1987

Sting wasn’t delving into deep psychological territory when composing this track. He was actually doing a writer-for-hire gig, one where a beer company asked for a song with the word “together” in it. Maybe the assignment loosened him up a bit, because it’s rare in his catalog that he’s sung with the outsized, engaging abandon he displays here. Eric Clapton is in the mix on lead guitar on this one, amidst a wild mélange of instrumentation that coaxes the playful R&B groove into existence.

3. “All This Time” – No. 5 in 1990

We’re here to cast our vote for The Soul Cages, released in 1991, as Sting’s finest solo album. The song cycle found Sting coming to terms with the death of his father, and it featured some of the most moving songs of his career. Smartly, the artist chose one of the catchiest tracks on the record with “All This Time” as the lead single. Look deep in the lyrics, and you’ll find more than a little bit of melancholy. But you can also sail along on the buoyant melody if you so choose.

2. “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” – No. 3 in 195

Sting had just come from working with two powerful instrumentalists in Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, when he went solo. It’s no surprise that he latched onto some other power players for his debut, notably jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis. The two would go on to work together often over the years. “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” bears the first fruits of their potent collaboration. Marsalis pipes in amidst Sting’s exhortations, while a churning groove keeps things lively all the way through the track.

1. “All For Love” (with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart) – No. 1 in 1993

Here’s the pitch, as we’d like to believe it happened: “Let’s get three stars whose voices sound kind of the same in their higher registers and see which one wins a shouting contest.” All right, maybe that’s not exactly what happened. But you can’t deny it’s a blast when Sting goes reaching for the rafters with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart alongside. Adams wrote the song along with Mutt Lange and Michael Kamen. Rock-pop’s version of The Three Musketeers topped the charts with it.

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