01-05-2025
Dire Straits Manage A Surprising Comeback With Several Big Albums
Dire Straits haven't released a new album in years, and the band is no longer together. Still, the act's music continues to resonate with a massive audience, especially in the U.K., where the group got its start. This week, the classic rock outfit returns to the Official Albums chart with two different collections – an impressive feat considering neither of the sets appeared on the tally last week, and that neither one is new. Now, both sit side-by-side on the competitive ranking.
Sultans of Swing – The Very Best of returns to the Official Albums chart at No. 99, landing in second-to-last place on the 100-spot roster. Just below that, Private Investigations – The Best Of reenters at No. 100.
This week marks a relatively rare occurrence in which two compilations from the same band appear on the list of the most-consumed full-lengths in the country, despite some serious overlap in track listings.
The two collections have followed different paths on the Official Albums tally. Sultans of Swing has peaked as high as No. 6, but has only remained on the ranking for 37 weeks. Private Investigations, on the other hand, reached a high of No. 20 – yet it has charted for a far longer span, with 143 weeks on the tally.
As both titles perform well on the main albums ranking, they also appear on the Official Albums Streaming chart, which measures the top-performing full-lengths on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Private Investigations climbs from No. 100 to No. 87, while Sultans of Swing lifts from No. 96 to a new peak of No. 85. That's a new all-time peak for the latter set on this streaming-only roster.
While Dire Straits has claimed many hit singles throughout the years the band was together, 'Sultans of Swing' continues to perform especially well to this day. The tune, which lends its name to one of the group's compilations, surges nearly 20 spaces on the Official Singles chart. This frame, it lands at No. 65. The track originally peaked at No. 8 decades ago, and it introduced the outfit to the general public. It has now spent 15 weeks on the tally, though those appearances span many years.
