The first of The Police's albums, Outlandos D'Amour was released in November 1978 after Roxanne, the third song on the album, had failed to chart, and Can't Stand Losing You, sixth on the album, had reached only number 42 in the UK charts. It was not until April 1979 that the album had an effect. Roxanne was re-released and reached number 12 in the UK and 32 in the US, causing Outlandos to reach number 6 in the UK and 23 in the US. This was followed by a re-release of Can't Stand Losing You in June which reached number 2 in the UK. Despite the fact that this is the only album to feature 10 songs - the others all have 11 - and that Be My Girl-Sally is basically a poem, it achieved only the second-lowest sales figures of all of The Police's albums in the US. The worst stelling album by The Police was surprisingly...

The second of The Police's albums. Reggatta De Blanc showed the peak of The Police's unique sound which combined reggae and rock. There are two massive hits on this album, Message In A Bottle, the group's first UK number one single, and Walking On The Moon which became the group's second UK chart-topper. The sophistication of Message In A Bottle and Walking On The Moon, both written by Sting, builds upon his superb lyrics from Outlandos' So Lonely and Can't Stand Losing You. Stewart Copeland was criticised for writing On Any Other Day, Contact and Does Everyone Stare, but close examination shows that Stewart's idea for Does Everyone Stare - jealousy in love - is visited by Sting four years later in the group's most famous song, Every Breath You Take. The two songs on the album which are written by all three band members (Reggatta De Blanc and Deathwish) are powerful rock songs which, when joined together with It's Alright For You and Contact, turn this into a more lively album than Outlandos. Strangely, this is the worst-selling of The Police's albums, and it only managed to sell 500,000 copies in the US on June 6, 1981. There is, however, a simple reason for this which is explained below, in Synchronicity. The album reached number one in the UK and held the position for four weeks whilst it made only number 25 in the US.

Released in 1980, Zenyatta Mondatta saw The Police changing their sound slightly, although the reggae element remained to an extent. Don't Stand So Close To Me and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da are featured on this album. Don't Stand So Close To Me became The Police's third UK number one whilst it reached number 10 in the US. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da reached number 5 in the UK and number 10 in the US. The change of sound can be heard in nearly all of the songs, and the instrumentals Behind My Camel (written by Andy Summers) and The Other Way Of Stopping (written by Stewart Copeland) added a new dimension to the group. It is interesting to note that Sting did not write a solo instrumental. This album sold well soon after it's release, going platinum (selling 1,000,000 copies) in the US on February 27, 1981. The album was helped by a new influence on Sting - the world and what he had seen during the group's world tours. This album, like Reggatta De Blanc before it, held at number one in the UK for four weeks and reached number 5 in the US.

This is the fourth of The Police's albums and was recorded at AIR Studios in Montserrat, the home of The Beatles' famous producer George Martin. The "Police sound" included keyboard arrangements (played by each member on different songs) and also riffing saxes. The album produced Sting's first political lyrics, in the songs Invisible Sun (about the violence in Northern Ireland), Spirits In The Material World (about the government trying to shut people up), Rehumanize Yourself (about computers eventually taking over - they had just been introduced) and One World (Not Three) (criticising big countries for not helping smaller, third-world countries). The biggest hit from this album is perhaps the group's third most famous song, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, which reached number one in the UK and number 3 in the US. The album reached number one in the UK in October 1981, and number 2 in the US, a position it held for six weeks. There is one song on the album, Secret Journey, which was released as a single in the US only to counter the fact that Invisible Sun, which had reached number 2 in the UK, had not been released in the US. Secret Journey did not make an impact, reaching only 46 in the US, but it is lyrically and musically a very sophisticated song. Meanwhile, Spirits In The Material World reached number 12 in the UK and number 11 in the US. There seems some possibility that Invisible Sun may have become The Police's first US number one had it have been released there. This album went gold and platinum in the US on my birthday, December 15, 1981, and went double platinum (sold 2,000,000 copies) on November 14, 1984.

The Police completely changed their sound for this album, directing it to suit America. In Stewart Copeland's own words, "We took off the rough edges. Got rid of all the reggae stuff that middle America couldn't handle." And how it told! The song Synchronicity II reached number 17 in the UK and 16 in the US, King Of Pain reached number 17 in the UK and number 3 in the US, Wrapped Around Your Finger reached number 7 in the UK and number 8 in the US, and The Police finally had their first US number one with Every Breath You Take which was also a number one single in the UK. Every Breath You Take, which was voted Top Single Of The Year for 1983 by Billboard magazine and also won an award for Best Group Video and Grammies for Song Of The Year and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, held at number one in the US for eight weeks whilst the album Synchronicity went to the top of the charts in the UK and US, staying at the top of the US album chart for 17 weeks despite it being the year of Michael Jackson's album Thriller, the most successful album in the history of music. Other awards for this album included Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal for the single Synchronicity II. Whilst these were not the groups first awards, these led to their "career" BRIT award on February 11, 1985. The album went quadruple platinum (sold 4,000,000 copies) in the US on November 14, 1984, the same day that Ghost In The Machine went double platinum. The sophistication of Sting's lyrics, Stewart's drumming and Andy's guitar-playing is evident on at least nine of the album's eleven songs.

This Greatest Hits compilation, released six years after the disbanding of The Police, contains the songs Roxanne, Can't Stand Losing You, So Lonely, Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, The Bed's Too Big Without You, Don't Stand So Close To Me, De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Invisible Sun, Spirits In The Material World, Synchronicity II, Every Breath You Take, King Of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger and Tea In The Sahara. This compilation reached number 10 in the UK album charts.

This is a four-CD compilation featuring 70 studio-recorded songs by The Police as well as a mono version of The Bed's Too Big Without You, and seven live performances. The non-album songs on the first CD are Fall Out and Nothing Achieving from The Police's first single, and the songs Dead End Job and Landlord. The second CD contains the non-album songs Visions Of The Night and Friends whilst the third CD contains the non-album songs A Sermon and Low Life and the instrumentals Shambelle, Flexible Strategies, How Stupid Mr Bates and A Kind Of Loving. The final CD contains the non-album songs Someone To Talk To, I Burn For You, Once Upon A Daydream and, for the UK Version, the dance remix of Don't Stand So Close To Me '86. The US box-set contains the normal version of Don't Stand So Close To Me '86, which reached number 24 in the UK and number 46 in the US. What is surprising is the sophistication of the songs I Burn For You and Once Upon A Daydream. The first was written by Sting when he was in a group called Last Exit whilst he wrote the lyrics for Once Upon A Daydream during the period of Ghost In The Machine, and Andy Summers wrote the music. When comparing The Police's punk-style which is shown well in Fall Out, Nothing Achieving and Dead End Job, to the quietness and control of I Burn For You and Once Upon A Daydream, you see how much they progressed during their career. Those who have never heard I Burn For You or Once Upon A Daydream cannot imagine what The Police managed to achieve with these two songs as they are completely different to all others, even Secret Journey. Sting's lyrics are more and more personal and become based on books or philosiphies whilst the drumming of Stewart and guitar-playing of Andy improved as time went on as well. The music of Once Upon A Daydream is especially sophisticated, as is the whole of Andy Summers' instrumental Shambelle.