CSPC: Dire Straits Popularity Analysis

Physical Singles Sales

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.

Dire Straits (1978) – 474,000 equivalent albums

Water of Love – 20,000
Sultans of Swing – 1,490,000
Sultans of Swing (1988) – 60,000
Wild West End – 10,000

Communiqué (1979) – 108,000 equivalent albums

Lady Writer – 330,000
Once Upon A Time In The West – 30,000

Making Movies (1980) – 246,000 equivalent albums

Tunnel of Love – 260,000
Romeo and Juliet – 280,000
Skateaway – 280,000

Love over Gold (1982) – 237,000 equivalent albums

Private Investigations – 570,000
Industrial Disease – 110,000
Love Over Gold – 110,000

Brothers in Arms (1985) – 1,185,000 equivalent albums

So Far Away – 490,000
Money for Nothing – 1,850,000
Walk of Life – 1,300,000
Your Latest Trick – 60,000
Brothers in Arms – 220,000
Money for Nothing / Brothers in Arms – 30,000

On Every Street (1991) – 240,000 equivalent albums

Calling Elvis – 520,000
On Every Street – 70,000
The Bug – 50,000
You and Your Friend – 10,000
Heavy Fuel – 110,000
Ticket to Heaven – 40,000

Orphan – 24,000 equivalent albums

Twisting by the Pool – 80,000

Dire Straits never got a #1 single in the UK. Sultans of Swing, Money For Nothing, Walk of Life and Private Investigations were their only Top 10 hits. The story was similar in the US where their only Top 10 hits are the 3 former songs, with Money For Nothing hitting the top spot.

As we can see, like most rock bands, they weren’t strong sellers in this format. The 3 songs which made the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic are the only ones which sold more than 1 million units globally. Their career total is modest at 8,38 million units.