Were single-in-line packages (SIP) ever popular in the West? Or even used much?
SIP low-power IC packages such as op-amps and LED bar-graph drivers were never very popular in the West, in fact I think they were rather difficult to find. It's easy to forget that in that era, even buying Matsushita, Toshiba or Hitachi ICs was not that easy. 

They were a sensible way to save space on punched single-sided boards used in relatively thick consumer electronics of the day. Of course they've been eclipsed by SMT parts in recent decades. 



SIP through-hole resistor networks, especially those with 8 or 9 pins with 4 isolated resistors, 8 resistors with a common for pull-ups, and termination networks were universally popular. They're still pretty competitive in terms of PCB area.