CSPC: Dire Straits Popularity Analysis

Dire Straits Career CSPC Results

So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Dire Straits achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!

In the following results table, all categories display figures in equivalent album sales. If different, pure sales are listed between parentheses.

artist_spotify_id	#	Cover	Album	Studio albums (EAS)	sales_update_date	Other LPs (EAS)	Physical singles (units sold)	Digital singles (units sold)	Streams	Streams increase	Total EAS	valid_as_of	streams_updated_value	album_id
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	1		Dire Straits	10,320,000	23.03.18	11,614,000	519,000 (1,550,000)	383,000 (2,550,000)	1,358,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 550 LD: 880	24,194,000	20,230,529	1,358,000	853
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	2		Communiqué	6,870,000	23.03.18	413,000	120,000 (360,000)	42,000 (280,000)	242,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 100 LD: 240	7,687,000	20,230,529	242,000	854
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	3		Making Movies	7,040,000	23.03.18	4,204,000	281,000 (540,000)	195,000 (1,300,000)	440,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 180 LD: 280	12,160,000	20,230,529	440,000	855
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	4		Love over Gold	7,510,000	23.03.18	1,547,000	242,000 (680,000)	74,000 (490,000)	147,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 50 LD: 60	9,519,000	20,230,529	147,000	856
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	5		Brothers in Arms	30,850,000	23.03.18	12,534,000	1,205,000 (3,950,000)	740,000 (4,930,000)	1,773,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 710 LD: 1,120	47,101,000	20,230,529	1,773,000	857
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	6		On Every Street	9,140,000	23.03.18	637,000	252,000 (750,000)	62,000 (420,000)	216,000 (05/29/23)	Av.: 80 LD: 170	10,307,000	20,230,529	216,000	858
0WwSkZ7LtFUFjGjMZBMt6T	7		Orphan	0	23.03.18	686,000	30,000 (80,000)	6,000 (40,000)	9,000 (03/23/18)	N/A	731,000	20,230,529	9,000	1,652

As a reminder:

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
• Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/6750 for Video stream)

See where the artist ranks among remaining singers

At 45,75 million equivalent album sales to date, Brothers In Arms confirms one more time its position among the all-time most successful rock albums. The number can be seen as someway disappointing still. The highest selling rock album during the 80s, we can notice that it is losing ground since Bon Jovi‘s Slippery When Wet, U2‘s Joshua Tree, Bruce Springsteen‘s Born In the U.S.A. and Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite For Destruction are now all ahead of it with total sales ranging from 46 million to 50 million. We shouldn’t turn our nose up though, this 1985 classic is right there with all the all-time greatest records.

Dire Straits is a strong second with 23 million units generated in total. It is the biggest rock album from 1978. The remaining four albums have all similar results with sales between 7,5 million and 11,8 million equivalent album units.

In total, Dire Straits sold 108,5 million equivalent albums sales. This is an average of more than 18 million per era, almost 2 million per song ever recorded! No doubt the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame opened their doors to the group this year.

The following pages list their most successful songs as well as their records and achievements. Do not forget to check our amazing cross-artists lists posted inside the CSPC: Data Collector which includes the full listing of all CSPC results compiled so far to better gauge their position in the history of the music industry.

As usual, feel free to comment and / or ask a question!

Sources: IFPI, Spotify, YouTube, Chartmasters.org.