"Every Breath You Take" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ||||
Single by the Police | ||||
from the album Synchronicity | ||||
B-side | "Murder by Numbers" | |||
Released | 20 May 1983[1] | |||
Recorded | December 1982 – February 1983[2] | |||
Studio | AIR (Salem, Montserrat) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:56 (single version) 4:13 (album version) | |||
Label | A&M (AM 117) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sting | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
The Police singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio sample | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Every Breath You Take" on YouTube |
"Every Breath You Take" is a song by the English rock band the Police from their album Synchronicity (1983). Written by Sting, the single was the biggest US and Canadian hit of 1983, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for eight weeks (the band's only No. 1 hit on that chart), and the Canadian RPM chart for four weeks. Their fifth UK No. 1, it topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks. The song also reached the top 10 in numerous other countries.
At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, the song 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. For the song, Sting received the 1983 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.[5]
"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.[6] In May 2019, it was recognised by BMI as being the most played song in radio history.[7][8] With nearly 15 million radio plays, Sting received a BMI Award at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to mark it being the Most Performed Song in BMI's catalogue, a distinction previously held since 1999 by Spector, Mann and Weil's "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neill stated: "For the first time in 22 years, BMI has a new top song in our repertoire with Sting's timeless hit 'Every Breath You Take,' a remarkable achievement that solidifies its place in songwriting history."[7]
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 No. 1 song for 1983.[9] The song was ranked No. 305 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[10] It also ranked number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs.[11] In 2008, Q magazine named it among the top 10 British Songs of the 1980s.[12] In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as The Nation's Favourite 1980s number one in a UK-wide poll for ITV.[13]
Origins and songwriting
[edit]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, Jamaica.[14] The lyrics are the words of a possessive lover who is watching "every breath you take; every move you make". Sting recalled:
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.[15]
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."[16] 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 analyzers, "every step you take" to ankle monitors, and "every vow you break" to voice stress analysis.[17]
According to the Phil Spector Back to Mono box-set book, "Every Breath You Take" is influenced by a Gene Pitney song titled "Every Breath I Take". Led Zeppelin's song, "D'yer Mak'er" (1973), also contains the words "every breath I take; every move I make".
Recording
[edit]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.[2] A few months later, he presented the song to the other band members when they reconvened at George Martin's AIR Studios in Montserrat to work on the Synchronicity album. The band initially tried the song in a variety of different styles and arrangements, such as reggae.[18][19]
While recording, guitarist Andy Summers came up with a guitar part inspired by 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, drums, and a single vocal, with Sting offering no directive beyond "make it your own".[20] Summers remembered:
This was a difficult one to get, because Sting wrote a very good song, but there was no guitar on it. He had this Hammond organ thing that sounded like Billy Preston. It certainly didn't sound like the Police, with that big, rolling synthesizer part. We spent about six weeks recording just the snare drums and the bass. It was a simple, classic chord sequence, but we couldn't agree how to do it. I'd been making an album with Robert Fripp, and I was kind of experimenting with playing Bartok violin duets and had worked up a new riff. When Sting said 'go and make it your own', I went and stuck that lick on it, and immediately we knew we had something special.[21]
The recording process was fraught with difficulties as personal tensions between the band members, particularly Sting and drummer Stewart Copeland, came to the fore.[2] Producer Hugh Padgham claimed that by the time of the recording sessions, Sting and Copeland "hated each other", with verbal and physical fights in the studio common.[2] The tensions almost led to the recording sessions being cancelled until a meeting involving the band and the group's manager, Miles Copeland (Stewart's brother), resulted in an agreement to continue.[2]
The drum track was largely created through separate overdubs of each percussive instrument, with the kick drum coming from the box for the Oberheim DMX drum machine while the main backbeat was created by simultaneously playing a snare and a Tama gong drum.[2] To give the song more liveliness, Padgham asked Copeland to record his drum part in the studio's dining room in order to achieve some "special sound effects". The room, however, was so hot that Copeland's drum sticks had to be taped to his hands to avoid slippage.[2]
A piano accompaniment consisting of individual notes was added to complete the song's bridge.[2] Padgham remembers that the band and he had "agonized over that part for a long time".[22] with Sting "fiddling around on the piano, banging away on the same note". Padgham recalled a one-note guitar solo and its hypnotic effect in previous work with XTC, and suggested using a similar single-note piano accompaniment - concluding that the one-note line was "kind of his idea in the end".[22][2] However, in a 1984 interview, Padgham remembered Sting coming into the studio with a couple of one-note piano lines for the song - instead implying that they were Sting's ideas and not his.[18]
Cash Box described the song as "a subtly crafted minor key ballad" and commented on the effect of the "surprising, smokey smooth feel [of the vocal] above the band's patently insistent rhythmic drive."[23]
Music video
[edit]The song had a music video (directed by duo Godley & Creme) loosely based on Gjon Mili's 1944 short film Jammin' the Blues. 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 upright 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, & 33rd in their respective top 100 lists. Daniel Pearl won the first MTV cinematography award for his work on the video.[24] 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. Pop star 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 co-founder 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."[25]
On October 5, 2022, Billboard officially released a statement confirming that the music video for "Every Breath You Take" surpassed one billion views on YouTube.[26]
Commercial performance
[edit]"Every Breath You Take" was released as a single in 1983, with "Murder by Numbers", a composition by Summers and Sting, on the B-side. 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 No. 1 song for 1983.[9]
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 No. 1 hit on that chart). It also topped the Billboard Top Tracks chart for nine weeks.
At the 26th Annual Grammy Awards, the song 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.[5]
Legacy
[edit]Two cover versions charted on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1983: Rich Landers at number 68 and Mason Dixon at number 69.[27]
In 1999, "Every Breath You Take" was listed as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century by BMI.[28][29] In May 2019, BMI updated the list and “Every Breath You Take” was recognized as the Most Performed Song in BMI’s catalogue, a distinction previously held by "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'".[7] In 2003, VH1 ranked the song the No. 2 greatest breakup song. As of 2003, Sting was making an average of $2000 per day in royalties for the song.[30]
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.[31]
"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.[6] In May 2019, it was recognized by BMI as being the most played song in radio history.[7][8] With nearly 15 million radio plays, Sting received a BMI Award at a ceremony held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills to mark it being the Most Performed Song in BMI's catalogue. BMI President and CEO Mike O'Neill stated: "For the first time in 22 years, BMI has a new top song in our repertoire with Sting's timeless hit 'Every Breath You Take,' a remarkable achievement that solidifies its place in songwriting history."[7]
In 2004, the song was ranked No. 84 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, although it was moved down to No. 305 in their 2021 update of the list.[32] "Every Breath You Take" is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[10] It also ranked number 25 on Billboard's Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs.[11] In 2008, Q magazine named it among the top 10 British Songs of the 1980s.[12] In 2015, the song was voted by the British public as the nation's favourite 1980s number one in a UK-wide poll for ITV.[13]
The song is sampled in Puff Daddy's 1997 hit "I'll Be Missing You," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 11 weeks and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group; Sting ultimately participated in a performance of "I'll Be Missing You" at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.[33]
According to Copeland in 2000:
In my humble opinion, this is Sting's best song with the worst arrangement. I think Sting could have had any other group do this song and it would have been better than our version – except for Andy's brilliant guitar part. Basically, there's an utter lack of groove. It's a totally wasted opportunity for our band. Even though we made gazillions off of it, and it's the biggest hit we ever had, when I listen to this recording, I think "God, what a bunch of assholes we were!"[21]
In the same 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. "Watch the press; let's see what happens in the next year. That's all I can tell you."[34][35]
Accolades
[edit]It is listed as one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[36] 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.[37]
Track listing
[edit]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
[edit]Credits from Richard Buskin and co-producer/engineer Hugh Padgham.[38]
- Sting – lead, harmony, and backing vocals, bass guitar; piano; synthesizers; double bass
- Andy Summers – guitars; guitar synthesizers (uncertain)
- Stewart Copeland – drums and percussion; Oberheim DMX box
Charts
[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
|
Year-end charts[edit]
Decade-end charts[edit]
All-time charts[edit]
|
Certifications and sales
[edit]Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[88] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
Canada | — | 150,000[89] |
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[90] | 2× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
Germany (BVMI)[91] | Platinum | 500,000‡ |
Italy (FIMI)[92] | 3× Platinum | 300,000‡ |
Portugal (AFP)[93] | 4× Platinum | 40,000‡ |
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[94] | 5× Platinum | 300,000‡ |
United Kingdom (BPI)[95] | 2× Platinum | 1,200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA)[96] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
See also
[edit]- List of RPM number-one singles of 1983
- List of number-one singles of 1983 (Ireland)
- List of number-one singles from the 1980s (UK)
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983
- List of number-one mainstream rock hits (United States)
- Monorhyme
References
[edit]- ^ "BPI; search "Police"".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Buskin, Richard (March 2004). "Classic Tracks: The Police's 'Every Breath You Take'". Sound on Sound.
- ^ "New wave hits of the 80s: all the best new wave songs". Like Totally 80s. March 2007.
- ^ Sterling, Christopher H.; O'Dell, Cary (12 April 2010). The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio - Google Books. Routledge. ISBN 9781135176846.
- ^ a b Lister, David, "Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion", The Independent, 28 May 1994
- ^ a b According to Sting's former publisher Tom Bradley. "Writing a Super Hit" by David Hepworth, The Word No. 86, April 2010, p. 74
- ^ a b c d e “BMI Announces Top Honors for its 67th Annual Pop Awards”. BMI. Retrieved 9 June 2019
- ^ a b "Sting's "Every Breath You Take" Is the Most Played Song on Radio [Video]". GuardianIv. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
- ^ a b Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1983
- ^ a b "The Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll | the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum". Archived from the original on 17 March 2010. Retrieved 2008-01-12.
- ^ a b "The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs". Billboard. 20 September 2008. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2009.
- ^ a b "100 Greatest Songs Of All Time". Q magazine. Retrieved 22 September 2019.
- ^ a b Westbrook, Caroline (25 July 2015). "The Nation's Favourite 80s Number One: 12 more classic 80s chart-toppers which didn't make the cut". Metro. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ "Trudie Styler: The truth about Trudie". The Independent. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ "INTERVIEW / Sting: How we mock our most serious Star, our national". The Independent. 1 May 1993. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Song Library: Every Breath You Take". BBC Radio 2. Retrieved 8 July 2009. (Spoken in the second Sting audio clip.)
- ^ Gary T. Marx (1988). "The Maximum Security Society" (PDF). New Technologies and Criminal Justice. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
- ^ a b Denyer, Ralph (March 1984). "The Producer Series - Hugh Padgham". Studio Sound. No. 4. p. 42.
- ^ Flans, Robyn (1 April 2003). "The Police's "Every Breath You Take"". mixonline.com.
- ^ Summers, Andy (2006). One Train Later: A Memoir, Thomas Dunne Books, pp. 323–324.
- ^ a b "REVOLVER". Sting.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
- ^ a b Brown, Jake (2011). "Chapter 9: Hugh Padgham - Synchronicity". Behind The Boards: The Making of Rock'N'Roll's Greatest Records Revealed (Kindle).
- ^ "Reviews". Cash Box. 28 May 1983. p. 8.
- ^ Fisher, Bob. "A Conversation with Daniel Pearl". International Cinematographers Guild. Archived from the original on 19 October 2006. Retrieved 25 October 2006.
- ^ Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of The Music Video Revolution, Dutton, New York, 2011
- ^ Rowley, Glenn (5 October 2022). "The Police's 'Every Breath You Take' Surpasses 1 Billion Views on YouTube". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
- ^ "Top 100 Songs of the Century". Bmi.com. 13 December 1999. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Complete list of Top 100 Songs". Archer2000.tripod.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "CBS – 60 Minutes II 'Sting: All This Time'". CBS News. 19 December 2003. Archived from the original on 18 January 2013.
- ^ "2007 BMI London Awards". Bmi.com. 16 October 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "The Police, 'Every Breath You Take'". Rolling Stone. 15 September 2021. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ KC Orcutt (27 August 2017). "Relive 10 of the most memorable performances from the VMAs". Revolt. Archived from the original on 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- ^ Maxwell, Jackson (10 October 2023). "'That song was going in the trash until I played on it': Andy Summers is locked in a 'contentious' battle with Sting over Every Breath You Take songwriting credits". Guitar World. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ Curtis-Horsfall, Thomas. "The Police's Andy Summers is still battling Sting for 'Every Breath You Take' songwriting credit". Gold Radio UK. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
- ^ "Experience the Music: One Hit Wonders and the Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
- ^ "The Hot 100: The All-Time, Top-Charting Songs Of The Last Five Decades". Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment. No. 38. New York: 14. 20 September 2008. p. 14.
- ^ Buskin, Richard. "Classic Tracks: The Police 'Every Breath You Take'". SoundOnSound. Sound On Sound. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 235. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 12 June 1988.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6267." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "CHART NUMBER 1379 – Saturday, June 18, 1983". Archived from the original on 7 November 2006. Retrieved 24 June 2016.. CHUM.
- ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Every Breath You Take". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Israel Singles Charts 1987-1995 - Page 2". www.ukmix.org. 26 August 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 4 June 2022. Select "Singoli" in the "Tipo" field, type "Police" in the "Artista" field and press "cerca".
- ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 25, 1983" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Topp 20 Single uke 25, 1983 – VG-lista. Offisielle hitlister fra og med 1958" (in Norwegian). VG-lista. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ "SloTop50: Slovenian official singles weekly chart" (in Slovenian). SloTop50. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
- ^ "SA Charts 1969 – 1989". rock.co.za. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "The Police Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Billboard July 30, 1983" (PDF). Billboard. New York, NY, USA. 30 July 1983. p. 39. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending JULY 16, 1983". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2014.. Cash Box magazine.
- ^ "Top 20 Bolivia del 24 al 30 de Mayo, 2021" (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
- ^ "The Police: Chart History: Canadian Digital Song Sales". Billboard Charts#Canadian Charts. for The Police. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ "The Police Chart History (Global 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
- ^ "The Police – Every Breath You Take". AFP Top 100 Singles. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "The Police Chart History: Rock Digital Song Sales". Billboard Charts Rock Digital Songs. for The Police. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
- ^ "Kent Music Report – National Top 100 Singles for 1983". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via Imgur.com.
- ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Ultratop Jaaroverzichten 1983". Ultratop 50 (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 26 January 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6699." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top-1983". top.france.free.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts 1983". GfK Entertainment Charts (in German). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1983". Dutch Top 40 (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Dutch Jaaroverzichten Single 1983". Single Top 100 (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Official New Zealand Music Chart - End of Year Charts 1983". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Top 20 Hit Singles of 1983". Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ Scapin, Peter, ed. (1984). "Top 100 singles: 1983". BPI Year Book 1984. British Phonographic Industry. pp. 42–43. ISBN 0-906154-04-9.
- ^ "Top 100 Hits for 1983". Billboard Hot 100. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- ^ "Adult Contemporary Songs – Year-End 1983". Billboard. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ^ "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1983". Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2013.. Cash Box magazine.
- ^ "Billboard Global 200 – Year-End 2022". Billboard. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
- ^ "Billboard Global 200 – Year-End 2023". Billboard. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
- ^ "The Top 20 Billboard Hot 100 Hits of the 1980s". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
- ^ "Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs". Billboard. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
- ^ "Brazilian single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in Portuguese). Pro-Música Brasil. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
- ^ "'Synchronicity' Sets A&M Sales Mark". Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 52. 24 December 1983. p. 83.
- ^ "Danish single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (The Police; 'Every Breath You Take')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 4 June 2023.
- ^ "Italian single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
- ^ "Portuguese single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
- ^ "Spanish single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
- ^ "British single certifications – Police – Every Breath You Take". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
- ^ "American single certifications – The Police – Every Breath You Take". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 7 February 2013.