Message in a Bottle (The Police song)

"Message in a Bottle"
Standard European artwork
Single by the Police
from the album Reggatta de Blanc
B-side"Landlord"
Released7 September 1979
RecordedFebruary 1979
Genre
Length3:50 (single version)
4:51 (album version)
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Sting
Producer(s)
The Police singles chronology
"So Lonely"
(1978)
"Message in a Bottle"
(1979)
"Walking on the Moon"
(1979)
Music video
"Message in a Bottle" on YouTube

"Message in a Bottle" is a song by British rock band the Police. It was released as the lead single from their second studio album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979). Written by the band's lead singer and bassist Sting, the song is ostensibly about a story of a castaway on an island who sends out a message in a bottle to seek love. Having received no response for a year, he despairs, believing that he is destined to be alone. The next day, however, he sees "a hundred billion bottles" on the shore and realizes that there are more lonely people like him.

The song was the first of the five UK number one singles released by the Police. Rolling Stone ranked it number 65 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".