What are the 5 Biggest U.S. Hits by The Police?

Well, they pretty much had the same color hair. But aside from that, the three men who comprised The Police couldn’t have been more different. It’s perhaps no surprise then that theirs was a volatile band history, one that almost ensured they wouldn’t last all that long.

But the interpersonal separation didn’t stop them from possessing incredible musical chemistry. That’s especially true on these five songs, which are the biggest chart hits The Police managed in the United States.

5. “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (No. 10 in 1980)

It took a few albums for the trio to find their commercial sea legs in the U.S., especially when it came to singles. “Roxanne” had been an unlikely Top-40 hit off their debut album, but it wasn’t until this track off Zenyatta Mondatta that they really zipped into the U.S. mainstream. Which is interesting because the topic isn’t exactly a crowd-pleaser. Sting had been a school teacher, so maybe he knew someone who had experienced something like what happens in this track. But it’s the music that sells it, especially when the moody synths in the verses give way to the band’s full-throttle, slightly reggae assault in the refrains.

4. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” (No. 8 in 1983)

Synchronicity was an album that almost never happened, as the band could no longer be in the same room together for barely an hour, let alone the time it took to record an album. Perhaps sensing they didn’t want to go out on a sour note, they pulled together and created a masterpiece, and this song is one of the high points. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” again shows the band putting across a complex, prickly scenario to a wide audience. Andy Summers’ mesmerizing guitar lines add just the right music touch to Sting’s tale of the shifting tides within a relationship power struggle.

3. “King of Pain” (No. 3 in 1983)

The hook for the lyrics came out of a conversation Sting was having with his then-girlfriend Trudie Styler, who playfully mocked his pessimistic outlook on just about everything, even the glorious sun beaming above them. But instead of keeping that mocking tone, Sting earnestly steered into the notion of a narrator who can’t quite see the positive in anything. The music, featuring Stewart Copeland’s thundercrack drums and Andy Summers’ precise guitar work, doesn’t let the narrator off the hook either. It’s a downer of a song, but the invigorating nature of the playing keeps it from seeming entirely so.

2. “Everything Little Thing She Does Is Magic” (No. 3 in 1981)

By 1981, it was fair to wonder if, as great as they were, these guys could lighten up a bit. Even when songs were bright musically, a dour undercurrent shaded the lyrics. They managed to effectively changes things up with “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” without seeming like they were pandering. That’s because the music, while effusive, is still quite intriguing, even more so when you consider it was the product of Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland playing on top of a Sting demo, one which they couldn’t improve when they tried to record the song from scratch.

1. “Every Breath You Take (No. 1 in 1983)

In many ways, “Every Breath You Take” was as simple a song as you were ever likely to hear from The Police. The chord patterns, Andy Summers’ unchanging guitar arpeggios, Sting’s flat-lined bass, and Stewart Copeland’s steady but unassuming beat: None of those elements are too heady on their own. Even the lyrics can seem pretty straightforward if you only stick with them on the surface. But the atmosphere conjured by the music, and the slight indications within the lyrics that this guy has crossed way over the line from affection to obsession, combine to render “Every Breath You Take” one of the deeper, darker runaway No. 1 singles you’ll hear.

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