Summary
- Sting made a fortune from his hit song Every Breath You Take, earning over $20.5 million and still making $730,000 per year in royalties alone.
- Diddy sampled the song for his hit I'll Be Missing You and pays Sting $5,000 per day for it.
- Universal Music Publishing purchased a collection of Sting's songs for $350 million, including many of his biggest hits. Sting is undeniably wealthy thanks to his successful music career.
Sting made a fortune throughout his career, but with all the wealth, the icon was also scammed out of millions. Thankfully, that matter was resolved.
In terms of his impact, Sting was and still is everywhere. Heck, he inspired James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Along with that, his impact with viral songs can still be felt today, especially in his bank account.
We'll take a closer look at his arguably his best song ever, Every Breath You Take. We're going to reveal how Sting came up with the classic song, and the different ways he continues to profit thanks to the tune. Let's get started.
Sting Wrote Every Breath You Take In Half An Hour
Sting is responsible for creating Every Breath You Take, which was created after separating from Frances Tomelty. Sting wrote the song after his breakup during an escape vacation down south. As for how he came up with the song, it came out randomly in the middle of the night.
Sting revealed with Smooth Radio, "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 realize at the time how sinister it is. I think I was thinking of Big Brother, surveillance and control."
Ultimately, the song was a major hit and the part Sting loves the most about is how diverse, and the different interpretations that can be made when listening to the song.
"I think if the song has any power at all, it's ambivalent. It could be sinister or it could be quite warm and sweet and nice, and people have both of those interpretations. And I would never contradict anyone who has a different interpretation of any of my songs because in many ways, that enriches the song," he tells People.
The song became a smash hit for Sting and until this very day, he continues to make a fortune from multiple sources because of it.
Sting Made Over $20.5 Million From Every Breath You Take, And Continues To Make $730,000 In Royalties
For eight weeks in a row during the 80s, Every Breath You Take was number one on the Billboard charts. The single became a monster in the years that followed, grossing over $20.5 million. According to The Richest, Sting continues to receive $730,000 per year from the one song alone.
Although Sting saw a massive increase to his wealth, it was a bit trickier for members of The Police, including Andy Summers. Given the structure of the song itself, it wasn't the most inclusive for track for the band. Summer revealed, "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."
He continues, "It certainly didn't sound like the Police, with that big, rolling synthesiser 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."
Ultimately, when it all came together, Summers and the band were well aware that the song was going to be something very special.
"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."
Along with the success, Sting was able to profit in different ways as well.
Diddy Revealed He Still Pays Sting $5,000 Per Day For Sampling Every Breath You Take
I’ll Be Missing You became another massive hit back in 1997, and a major reason for it has to do with Diddy sampling the song from Sting's Every Breath You Take. It proved to be an expensive purchase, as Diddy continues to pay the artist $5,000 per day for it!
A tweet reported that Diddy was still paying $2,000 for the song, however, Diddy corrected the post by writing, "Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother, Sting."
Variety also noted that Universal Music Publishing purchased a bunch of songs from Sting's catalog, estimated to be worth $350 million. Among the hits includes, “Roxanne,” “Every Breath You Take,” “Shape Of My Heart,” “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,” “Fields Of Gold,” “Desert Rose,” “Message in a Bottle,” “Englishman in New York” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and various others.
Yup, Sting is a very rich man.