I do however understand how a young person (live Pavel!) could look from today's viewpoint and be unable to comprehend how DS could possibly have been the biggest band in the world.
It goes back to something that I started a thread about a while back, the fact that there has been no attempt to preserve DS's legacy.
So while The Beatles, The Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Queen etc are all kept in the public consciousness, DS is allowed to be forgotten.
But in 85 they were the biggest thing going. As MK said, luck had something to do with it, but more in the sense that they were "lucky" to have some great songs that resonated with people. You could say that others around the same time were similarly "lucky", like Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna.
I do however think the CD thing is overstated. Yes, I'm sure BiA played a big role in getting CDs going as a great demonstration tool, but very few people had a CD player in 1985. They were too expensive. I didn't know anyone who had a CD player then.
Apparently CD sales overtook vinyl in 1988 and tapes in 1981. That sounds about right to me.
"Older" AMITers, when did you get your first CD player? It was 1991 for me.