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Cover of Outlandos d’Amour by The Police
Cover: Outlandos d’Amour

Song · The Police

“Can't Stand Losing You” by The Police

From the album Outlandos d’Amour (1978)

“Can't Stand Losing You” by The Police appears on 52 radio countdowns from 17 stations between 1989 and 2024. It was first released in 1978 on the album Outlandos d’Amour. Its best result is #49 on the WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #341 alternative song of all time.

52countdowns
17stations
#49best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1989–2024years charted

Watch

The Police - Can't Stand Losing You (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (ThePoliceVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Can't Stand Losing You" comes off Outlandos d'Amour, the Police's 1978 debut, and it was the single that followed "Roxanne" out the door. Sting wrote it, sang it and played the bass, and for all its bounce it's a song about suicide.

The trick is how light it sounds. Andy Summers chops chords on the off-beat, Stewart Copeland's drums skitter and snap around the edges, and Sting's high, pleading voice rides on top, so the whole thing comes off like a punk band that stumbled into a Jamaican dance hall and decided to stay. The band produced and arranged it themselves, with Nigel Gray and Chris Gray engineering, and A&M put it out.

Its big moment came when it was put out again in 1979 and climbed to number 2 in Britain.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

Classic Rock

All Rock Formats

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1989 143 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) 495
1989 61 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1989) 500
1991 49 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (1991) 500
1991 730 CFNY 102.1 The Edge CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) 1002
1991 234 WNEW-FM WNEW Firecracker 500 (1991) 500
1992 383 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) 500
1994 212 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1994) 497
1995 344 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1995) 500
1996 268 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) 500
1996 374 Q101 Q101 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (1996) 500
1997 619 102.3 WBAB WBAB Top 1,023 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time (1997) 1023
1998 124 KROQ KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1998) 488
1999 232 WLIR / WDRE WLIR Top 300 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 300
1999 376 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 376 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 381 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2001 108 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 500
2002 238 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2002) 500
2002 381 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 996 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) 2002
2003 261 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2003) 500
2003 381 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2003 957 Fred (XM 44) Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) 2044
2004 381 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2004 78 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 500
2005 265 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005) 500
2005 383 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2006 230 WOXY 97X WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006) 499
2006 313 Virgin Radio Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) 500
2007 729 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 653 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 452 Live 105 Live 105 Memorial 500 Song List (2009) 500
2009 638 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 657 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 679 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2011 410 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1100 Countdown (2011) 1100
2012 416 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1200 Countdown (2012) 1200
2013 699 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2013 413 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Grand Jam 1000 (2013) 1000
2013 290 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2013) 500
2014 725 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2014 323 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX 1K Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 287 Big 100 BIG 1000 New Year's Countdown (2014) 1000
2014 236 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 400 (2014) 400
2015 414 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Classic Rock Countdown (2015) 1007
2015 287 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Firecracker 500 (2015) 499
2016 937 100.7 WZLX 100.7 WZLX Top 1007 Countdown for 2016 1007
2017 491 97.9 The Loop 97.9 The Loop Top 540 Countdown (2017) 540
2021 821 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2021) 1043
2022 567 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '70s 908
2023 798 101.5 WPDH WPDH Top 1015 (2023) 1015
2024 1029 Q104.3 Q104.3 Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time (2024) 1043

Also listed as: I Can't Stand Losing You.

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