1983 Hit 'Every Breath You Take' Became a Massive No. 1 Hit

On this day in 1983, The Police were riding high at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with "Every Breath You Take", the lead single from their final album, Synchronicity.

Despite hailing from their final album and coming several years into their acclaimed career, "Every Breath You Take" was also the band's first No. 1 single in the United States. They'd previously reached No. 3 with "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", but their music had generally been more popular overseas.

The band already had four No. 1s in the U.K. before they landed their first in the United States, but this was still a huge accomplishment for the band that had helped push new wave and post-punk rock into mainstream radio.

The song wasn't just The Police's biggest hit, but also the most commercially successful single of the entire year. In 2019, BMI recognized "Every Breath You Take" as the most-played song in radio history, highlighting just how much of an unfathomable smash-hit it truly was.

Despite the song's huge popularity, the writing process for "Every Breath You Take" was remarkably simple. It was written by The Police frontman Sting in just half an hour after he woke up in the middle of the night with the refrain stuck in his mind.

"I woke up in the middle of the night with that line in my head, sat down at the piano and had written it in half an hour. The tune itself is generic, an aggregate of hundreds of others, but the words are interesting. It sounds like a comforting love song. I didn't realise at the time how sinister it is. I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control." (via Independent).

Despite enduring as one of The Police's most iconic love songs, Sting never intended "Every Breath You Take" to be that romantic at all. Instead, he described the track as being "very sinister and ugly". Many fans have taken the lyrics to be a condemnation of the modern surveillance state, where everything you do is constantly being watched.

The song has since become The Police's signature song, with an estimated 33% of Sting's music publishing income stemming from this single alone. It may have been one of the final songs the band released, but it was a crowning accomplishment that solified them as new wave icons.

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jul 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 3:21 AM.