The Police just scored another massive win in the streaming era. “Every Breath You Take” has crossed three billion streams on Spotify, becoming the first pre-1999 track to reach this milestone and securing its place in Spotify’s Billions Club.
The 1983 classic continues to rack up over two million plays daily, proving that great songwriting ages like fine wine.
Released as the lead single from Synchronicity, the band’s fifth and final studio album, the track spent eight weeks perched at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and took home Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
The streaming numbers tell a wild story. “Every Breath You Take” currently stands as the most-streamed song from the entire 1980s on Spotify, beating out Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” and a-ha’s “Take On Me“ for the crown.
The track has spent 636 consecutive days on Spotify’s daily Top 200 chart and recently cracked the global Top 50 for the first time in decades.
What makes this achievement even more remarkable? The song received a second wind in 2017 when Netflix featured it during the Snow Ball dance scene in Stranger Things series two.
Gen Z discovered the track through TikTok videos, introducing Sting’s anxious melody to a whole new generation who had no idea the song dropped during the Reagan administration.
The track’s staying power comes down to its deceptive simplicity. Many listeners still think they’re hearing a romantic ballad, but the dark meaning behind The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” reveals something far more sinister.
Sting himself later admitted he didn’t realise how unsettling the song sounded when he wrote it. “It sounds like a comforting love song,” he told Smooth Radio in 1991. “I didn’t realise at the time how sinister it is.”
That misinterpretation hasn’t stopped couples from playing it at weddings, despite the lyrics describing obsessive surveillance rather than devotion.
The irony isn’t lost on Sting, who has alternated between laughing about it and leaning into the darker reading over the years.
Whilst “Every Breath You Take” remains The Police’s only entry in Spotify’s Billions Club, their 1978 reggae-tinged single “Roxanne” is closing in on one billion streams.
The band recently released their five studio albums on SHM-CD, a high-quality format manufactured in Japan and pressed in small batches.
The three billion milestone arrives during an interesting time for the band. Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland recently filed a lawsuit against Sting over millions in lost royalties from the track, with Summers claiming his iconic guitar riff deserves co-writing credit. The song reportedly generates nearly £600,000 annually in royalties, credited solely to Sting.
Four decades after its release, “Every Breath You Take” keeps watching over the charts, proving that some songs truly are timeless.
Dive into the ultimate rankings with Neon Music’s definitive countdown: The 50 Most Streamed Songs of All Time.