Dire Straits: Scottish-born artists’ ‘Brothers in Arms’ album ranked second best of the 1980s

Dire Straits’ album ‘Brothers in Arms’ has been named as the second best of the 1980s, according to a BBC Radio 2 listeners poll.

The band, fronted by Glasgow-born lead vocalist Mark Knopfler and his younger brother David, were beaten to the top spot by U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree.

Brothers in Arms was the biggest-selling album of the decade when it was released in 1985, with an estimated 30 million copies sold since it debuted.

It includes some of Dire Straits’ most popular hits, including Money for Nothing and Walk of Life.

The band, fronted by Glasgow-born lead vocalist Mark Knopfler and his younger brother David, were beaten to the top spot by U2’s 1987 album The Joshua Tree. (CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP via Getty Images)

The Top 10 albums of the 1980s

The Joshua Tree (U2) Brothers in Arms (Dire Straits) The Stone Roses (The Stone Roses) Thriller (Michael Jackson) Appetite for Destruction (Guns N’ Roses) Dare (The Human League) The Queen Is Dead (The Smiths) Graceland (Paul Simon) Lexicon of Love (ABC) Purple Rain (Prince)

The poll came ahead of National Album Day on Saturday, when record stores across the country will be stocked with limited editions of classic records.

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