Anthony DeCurtis wrote: "...Nothing Like the Sun represents impressive growth for Sting. His voice is rich, grainy and more mature; his ideas are gaining in complexity; and musically he is stretching without straining. His mistress's eyes may be nothing like the sun, but on this fine new album Sting's intrepid talent shines on brightly." In 1989, the album was ranked number 90 on Rolling Stones list of the "100 Best Albums of the Eighties". AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine described ...Nothing Like the Sun as "one of the most doggedly serious pop albums ever recorded" and noted the presence of only one uptempo song ("We'll Be Together"), with the remaining tracks being "too measured, calm, and deliberately subtle to be immediate". He found that it succeeds as "a mood piece – playing equally well as background music or as intensive, serious listening", and that while slightly overlong, "it's one of his better albums." There were harsher assessments elsewhere. Robert Christgau of The Village Voice observed a "more relaxed" Sting on the album but deemed it "pretentious" on the whole, while Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt that Sting's "nuanced singing and literate lyrics" are "weighed down by ponderous music." Trouser Press'' critic Ira Robbins disparaged the album as "self-important" and "a tedious, bankrupt and vacuous cavern of a record." Commercial performance In the United States, the album debuted at number 54 on the US Billboard 200 chart on the week of 31 October 1987 and eventually peaked at number nine in its third week of release. The album spent a total of 52 weeks on the chart. On 24 October 1991, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over two million copies in the United States. In the UK, the album debuted and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart. In the second week the album dropped to number three. It spent a total of 42 weeks on the chart. The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. Track listing B-sides "Ghost in the Strand" ("Englishman in New York" 7"/ Maxi Single) "Ellas Danzan Solas" ("They Dance Alone" Maxi Single) "If You There" ("They Dance Alone" 7") "Conversation with a Dog" ("We'll Be Together" 7"/ Maxi Single) "Someone to Watch over Me" ("Englishman in