Every Breath You Take

To escape the public eye, Sting retreated to the Caribbean. He started writing the song at Ian Fleming's writing desk on the Goldeneye estate in Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica. The lyrics are the words of a possessive lover who is watching "every breath you take; every move you make". Sting recalled: When asked why he appears angry in the music video, Sting told BBC Radio 2, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle little love song, when it's quite the opposite. Hence so." Gary T. Marx, sociologist and scholar of surveillance studies, wrote in 1988 that, while the song was "a love rather than a protest song", it "nicely captures elements of the new surveillance". He compared the lines to various new technologies of surveillance, including linking "every breath you take" to breath analysers, "every step you take" to ankle monitors, and "every vow you break" to voice stress analysis. According to the Phil Spector box-set book Back to Mono (1958–1969) (1991), "Every Breath You Take" is influenced by a Gene Pitney song titled "Every Breath I Take". The Hassles' 1967 song "Every Step I Take (Every Move I Make)," co-written by Billy Joel, also uses this rhyme. Led Zeppelin's song "D'yer Mak'er" (1973) also contains the words "every breath I take; every move I make". In a 2000 interview, Copeland said Summers should get songwriting credit for "Every Breath You Take". In October 2023, Summers revealed that despite contributing the guitar riff that "has become a kind of immortal guitar part that all guitar players have to learn", he is still pursuing a "contentious" battle with Sting over "Every Breath You Take" songwriting credits. He said that the song was originally "going in the trash until I played on it." He also hinted at a legal battle over the song's songwriting credits. In August 2025, Copeland and Summers sued Sting and his publishing company Magnetic Publishing Limited for writing credits and lost royalties. In January 2026 Sting agreed to pay Copeland and Summers £600,000 after acknowledging underpaying royalties. == Recording ==

The demo of the song was recorded in an eight-track suite in North London's Utopia studios and featured Sting singing over a Hammond organ. While recording, guitarist Andy Summers came up with a guitar part inspired by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók that would later become a trademark lick, and played it straight through in one take. He was asked to put guitar onto a simple backing track of bass guitar, drums, and a single vocal, with Sting offering no directive beyond "make it your own". Summers remembered: The recording process was fraught with difficulties as personal tensions between the band members, particularly Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland, came to the fore. He said that Sting entered the recording studio with a few piano ideas where he "bang[ed] away on the same note". Padgham expressed his approval of the piano part, having been reminded of a single note guitar solo from his work producing XTC, and encouraged Sting to use the idea on "Every Breath You Take". According to Copeland in 2000: == Music video ==

won the first MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography in a Video with this music video. The song had a music video (directed by duo Godley & Creme) loosely based on Gjon Mili's short film ''Jammin' the Blues'' (1944). Shot in black and white with a navy blue tint, the video depicts the band, accompanied by a pianist and string section, performing the song in a darkened ballroom as a man washes the floor-to-ceiling window behind them. Sting performs his part on double bass rather than bass guitar. The video was praised for its cinematography; MTV (1999), Rolling Stone (1993), and VH1 (2001) named it one of the best music videos ever, placing it 16th, 61st, and 33rd in their respective top 100 lists. Daniel Pearl won the first MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography in a Video for his work on the video. Released in the early days of MTV, "Every Breath You Take" was one of the earliest videos to enter heavy rotation, which significantly contributed to the song's popularity. American singer-songwriter Richard Marx remembers that "the first video I watched over and over was 'Every Breath You Take'. It was like seeing a Bergman film. Directors usually spelled out every word of the lyrics in a video, but this was the first video I knew that didn't do that. It was abstract." According to A&M Vice President of Marketing and Creative Services Jeff Ayeroff, "[The video for] 'Every Breath You Take' probably cost $75,000 to $100,000, and we sold over 5 million albums. With a good video, the return on your investment was phenomenal." On 5 October 2022, Billboard released a statement confirming that the music video for "Every Breath You Take" surpassed one billion views on YouTube. , the video has over 1.6 billion views on YouTube. == Commercial performance ==

"Every Breath You Take" was released as a single in 1983, with B-side "Murder by Numbers" – a composition by Summers and Sting that had been omitted from the vinyl release of Synchronicity in favour of Copeland's "Miss Gradenko" due to LP length limitations, only appearing as the final track on the CD and cassette. It reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Israel, Ireland, and South Africa. In Canada, it spent four weeks at No. 1 and an additional six weeks at No. 2. It also reached No. 2 in Spain, Sweden, Norway and Australia, while reaching the Top 10 in most other Western, Northern and Southern European countries. In the 1983 Rolling Stone critics and readers poll, it was voted Song of the Year. In the US, it was the best-selling single of 1983 and fifth-best-selling single of the decade. Billboard ranked it as the song for 1983. The single became the biggest US and Canadian hit of 1983, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for eight weeks (the band's only hit on that chart). It also topped the Billboard Top Tracks chart for nine weeks. At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, "Every Breath You Take" was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Record of the Year, winning in the first two categories. Sting received the 1983 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA). == Legacy ==

Two cover versions charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1983: Rich Landers at number 68 and Mason Dixon at number 69. In 1999, "Every Breath You Take" was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century by BMI. In May 2019, BMI updated the list and "Every Breath You Take" was recognised as the Most Performed Song in BMI's catalogue, a distinction previously held by "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' by the Righteous Brothers. In 2001, The Sopranos episode "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood" features a mashup combining "Every Breath You Take" with Henry Mancini's 1959 song "Peter Gunn". In October 2007, Sting was awarded a Million-Air certificate for nine million airplays of "Every Breath You Take" at the BMI Awards show in London. "Every Breath You Take" is the Police's and Sting's signature song, and in 2010 was estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income. The song is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song made a comeback as it was featured in the Snow Ball dance scene in Netflix series Stranger Things season 2 in which Eleven and Mike Wheeler dance to "Every Breath You Take". The song became popular with Generation Z and it appeared in videos on TikTok. The scene also won for Best Musical Moment at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards. The song was played during the last scene of the 2019 The Blacklist season 6 episode "Lady Luck", during which the protagonist Raymond Reddington, with his friend Dembe Zuma, visit a school which he is been donating to and listens to its choir singing it. The song can be understood as a metaphor for the overall control that Reddington exerts over Elizabeth Keen's life. == Accolades ==

"Every Breath You Take" is listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. On the 50th anniversary of the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, the song was ranked No. 25 on Billboard's "The All-Time Top 100 Songs" chart. == Track listing ==

7" single: A&M / AM 117 • "Every Breath You Take" – 3:56 • "Murder by Numbers" – 4:31 Two-disc 7" single: A&M / AM 117 Disc one • "Every Breath You Take" – 4:13 • "Murder by Numbers" – 4:31 Disc two • "Truth Hits Everybody" (Remix) – 3:34 • "Man in a Suitcase" (Live) – 2:18 == Personnel ==

Credits from Richard Buskin and co-producer and engineer Hugh Padgham. • Sting – lead, harmony, and backing vocals; bass guitars; piano; synthesisers; electric double bass • Andy Summers – guitars, guitar synthesisers • Stewart Copeland – drums, percussion, Oberheim DMX box == Charts ==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts All-time charts version Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts == Certifications and sales ==