[Beginner’s Guide] Start Here! A Collection of Sting’s Greatest Songs [2025]

Send Your Love (feat. Vicente Amigo)Sting

Sting – Send Your Love (Official Music Video)

A track included on the seventh album, Sacred Love, released in 2003.

Since his solo debut in the 1980s, Sting has put out music with a wide range of styles, and this is an EDM number with a dance beat.

Beyond its musicality, the lyrics are literary and beautiful, rich with compelling metaphors that reward close reading.

Englishman in New YorkSting

Sting – Englishman In New York

It’s a track included on Sting’s 1987 album “.

.

.

Nothing Like the Sun.” The song is notable for its strong jazz influences and lyrics that seem to reflect his own experience working alone in New York.

RoxanneSting

Sting at Carnegie Hall: Roxanne (Excerpt)

This song dates back to Sting’s time with The Police, so strictly speaking it isn’t a solo Sting track.

However, he has performed it often in his solo career and showcased several different arrangements, so I’ve included it in the ranking.

Roxanne depicts the romantic entanglement of a man who falls in love with a prostitute, and its “danger-tinged” lyrics and melody are striking, perfectly matching the subject matter.

For this pick, I chose the symphonic version.

Like Englishman in New York, it exudes a refined, aristocratic atmosphere and has been crafted into a highly sophisticated piece.

EnglishmanSting

Sting – Englishman In New York

This is Sting’s “Englishman” with a soprano saxophone playing the obbligato.

Jazz often brings to mind alto or tenor sax, but pop-tinged, jazz-flavored tunes played on soprano sax like this are really great too.

By the way, where can you get sheet music for songs like this? It’s something we all wonder about.

It’s common to get inspired by an instrument and pick one up, only to find there’s no sheet music available.

If you’ve got a good ear, try transcribing by ear; otherwise, work with someone who can arrange and notate it for you.

Often only the lead melody is published, so for the saxophone solo sections, do your best to tackle them by ear.

At first you might not be able to identify any of the notes, but the thrill when you finally figure them out and can play them isn’t something everyone gets to experience.

A lot of jazz charts are learned by ear anyway, so listen repeatedly with patience and pick out the notes.

And once you can really play it, you’ll have something to brag about!

Whenever I Say Your Name (feat. Mary J. Blige)Sting

Sting – Whenever I Say Your Name (Official Music Video) ft. Mary J. Blige

This song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 2003.

It’s a collaboration between Sting and soul singer Mary J.

Blige.

Sting’s sweet vocals are already incredible, but performing together with Mary J.

Blige creates a narrative and makes it an even more compelling, moodier track.

Let Your Soul Be Your PilotSting

Sting – Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot

Amid Sting’s songs, which often question the world today or take a cynical view, this forward-looking, straightforward message song is included on his sixth album, Mercury Falling, released in 1996.

Like A Beautiful SmileSting

Like A Beautiful Smile

If you like acid jazz in the vein of Jamiroquai, I recommend “Like A Beautiful Smile.” This track was included on his seventh album, Sacred Love, which is widely regarded as a classic.

While it’s somewhat minor, that lack of commercial emphasis makes it an exceptionally refined piece of music.

The first half leans toward acid jazz, but the latter half shifts into a vibe reminiscent of late-’70s neo-soul, so be sure to pay attention to the second half as well!