CSPC: Dire Straits Popularity Analysis

Full Length related records Sales – Summary

Here is the most underestimated indicator of an album’s success – the amount of compilation sales of all kinds it generated. Due to the dependency of sales of the original studio albums on these releases, they are a key piece of the jigsaw.

Both Dire Straits and Brothers In Arms are responsible for around 12 million sales of compilations, live albums and music videos. It shows why the former album hasn’t been able to really pull ahead of their remaining albums in spite of 40 years of catalog sales while containing a hit as big as Sultans of Swing: because it was quickly cannibalized by other packages which contained it too.