Chart positions

[twm]

I am currently sorting (and sometimes clearing out) some "stuff" from 1979. For some reason, I kept a few of the "Top Thirty Albums" charts and I thought you might be interested in some of this:

"DIRE STRAITS"
19 May 79 #4
26 May 79: #6
2 June 79: #7
9 June 79: #13
16 June 79: # 16
23 June 79: # 24

The dates are the MELODY MAKER publication dates and, since some of these bits of paper are not dated, I have had to interpolate some of these.

"COMMUNIQUE" seems to have entered the chart at # 7  in the 23 June 79 issue and dropped to # 14 the following week.

[Pottel]

keep us informed. love it

[rosco]

Here's a good site for MK and DS ww sales, a little dated though.

http://www.ukmix.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=61851&hilit=dire

[twm]

As per the 2006 edition of Joel Whitburn's BILLBOARD Top 200 album charts book (the latest copy I have and covering U.S. sales only):


TITLE                            RIAA AWARDS                   CHARTS
DIRE STRAITS                 2x platinum                    [peaked at # 2; 41 weeks on the chart]
COMMUNIQUE                gold                                [#11; 19 weeks]
MAKING MOVIES              platinum                        [#19; 31 weeks]
LOVE OVER GOLD             gold                             [#19; 32 weeks]
TWISTING BY THE POOL      -                                [#53; 15 weeks]                    (counted as a mini-LP)
LIVE ALCHEMY                  gold                             [#48; 15 weeks]
BOTHERS IN ARMS              9x platinum                 [#1 for 9 weeks; 97 weeks]
MONEY FOR NOTHING         platinum                     [#62; 17 weeks]
ON EVERY STREET              platinum                     [#12; 32 weeks]
ON THE NIGHT                  -                                   [#116; 6 weeks]

"Gold" is 500,000 units sold and "platinum" is 1,000,000 units sold, as certified by the RIAA (Record Industry Association of America). Those without either of these sold less than 500,000.

A trip to the library may yield a later edition of the book with more up-to-date figures.

Oh, I nearly missed this:

MISSING ... PRESUMED HAVING A GOOD TIME  [#52; 13 weeks]

No award, so sales less than 500,000

[twm]

As above:

TITLE                           RIAA AWARDS              CHARTS
NECK AND NECK            -                              #127; 25 weeks

[twm]

And, finally ...

TITLE                                 RIAA AWARDS        CHARTS
GOLDEN HEART                   -                           #105; 12 weeks
SAILING TO PHILADELPHIA   gold                      #60; 22 weeks
THE RAGPICKER

[twm]

UK peak chart position according to Martin Strong's THE GREAT ROCK DISCOGRAPHY (2004 edition):

TITLE                                                    UK CHART (PEAK POSITION)
DIRE STRAITS                                                   # 5
COMMUNIQUE                                                  # 5
MAKING MOVIES                                               # 4
LOVE OVER GOLD                                             # 1
TWISTING BY THE POOL                                   #14
LOCAL HERO [ost]                                            #14
ALCHEMY LIVE                                                  # 3
CAL [ost]                                                         #65
BOTHERS IN ARMS                                             # 1
PRINCESS BRIDE [ost]                                        -
MONEY FOR NOTHING [compilation]                   # 1
MISSING

[dustyvalentino]

UK solo singles and albums

http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/mark%20knopfler/

DS singles and albums


http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/dire%20straits/

Take a look at how long the DS albums stayed in the charts for!

[JF]

thanks Dusty

I have always been surprised by the fact that MFN is known as the "greatest hit" in DS/MK carreer, because (at least in France) I think that WOL is more well known that MFN, and the chart seems to confirm this, as the WOL reached the 2th position, while MFN reached "only" the 4th position.

even PI reached a 2nd position, and I think it's another very well known song in the public, maybe more than MFN

I think that MFN became more well known after the MFN comp in 88, but in 85-86, I would bet that WOL was far ahead MFN in term of "notoriety"

can french fans confirm this ?

and what was the case in other countries ?

[dustyvalentino]

In the UK MFN was a huge song, probably the point where a lot of people went and bought the album - BIA was the biggest selling album ever for a long time in the UK.

Yes, WOL got a higher chart position, but it doesn't tell you the whole story, what else came out that week etc.

MFN got to number 1 in the states where they include airplay.

[dmg]

I think it was the USA where MFN really made up the ground and of course it has the famous guitar riff and video that everyone knows.

[Dutchessy]

I think it was the USA where MFN really made up the ground and of course it has the famous guitar riff and video that everyone knows.

Which guitar riff and video?

[JF]

BIA was the biggest selling album ever for a long time in the UK.

what about thriller, dark side or Eagles' greatest hits ? I thought these were ones of the biggest selling albums, but maybe not in all countries ?

[JF]

about MFN's "famous" guitar riff and videos, fo course there are "icons"

neverthless, maybe I'm wrong, but here in France, I believe that WOL was aired far more on french radios than MFN, I mean at the time of albums/singles relaese, around 85-86.

of course, after 88, MFN got antother "status", but I am quite sure that if you made listen the 2 tracks to people lambda in France around 85-86, I bet that WOL would have been quicker "recognized" by them.

and another important element : MTV wasn't aired on french TV channels in the 80ies, so maybe it made MFN less "iconic" in a non-english language country ?

[Pottel]

dark side was on the billboard 100 for like 750 weeks, and since then they changed the rules and after, i believe, a 100 weeks it is moved to a "classics" chart.
heard Roger telling it in an interview.