JON SATURDAY APRIL 6, 1974, in the English coastal town of Brighton, a group known in their native Sweden but unknown to the rest of the world, won the Eurovision Song Contest with a song entitled WATERLOO.
ABBA had arrived and the rest is not merely history but the stuff of legend. To date, ABBA has sold over 350 million records worldwide. Following their Eurovision triumph, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the initials of their first names made the name ABBA) were catapulted onto the world stage. WATERLOO topped pop charts all around the globe.
Over the next eight years, ABBA would achieve countless hit singles, platinum albums, sell-out concert tours and even a hit movie - ABBA - THE MOVIE. The group’s chart domination of Europe was unequivocal - with, at the time, only the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and the Beatles having achieved longer runs of top ten singles. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the American hits continued: ten songs made the Top Twenty with WATERLOO, TAKE A CHANCE ON ME and THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL all making the Top Ten.
DANCING QUEEN took ABBA to number one. A truly global success, DANCING QUEEN was also number one in twelve other countries.
Europe and North America were not the only continents to experience ‘ABBAmania’ - there were six consecutive number one singles in Australia and four number one albums (THE BEST OF ABBA remains, to this day, the country’s highest selling album). Their Melbourne concerts were legendary. There were six number ones in New Zealand with a further twelve singles reaching the Top Twenty. In Mexico, the group scored eleven Top Ten hit singles, with seven reaching number one, and six number one albums; and in Zimbabwe there were thirteen Top Ten singles and no less than eight consecutive number one albums (excluding the compilations still on general release!).
In Japan, fourteen singles made the ‘All Japan Pop 20’ with SUMMER NIGHT CITY, CHIQUITITA, VOULEZ-VOUS and GIMME! GIMME! GIMME! all reaching number one. But by 1982 it was all over. Plans for another new album were abandoned and THE SINGLES- THE FIRST TEN YEARS released in its place. The year ended with the release of the single UNDER ATTACK which was the last for the group. Yet despite the fact that ABBA ceased to record or tour together, their music continued to entertain, to enthral, to inspire. ABBA is very much a continuing success story. The countless hits have transcended time to remain as popular today as they were when first released, in some cases more so. ABBA GOLD and MORE ABBA GOLD remain best-selling albums worldwide. The movies MURIEL’S WEDDING and PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT both featured ABBA’s music and also won the group whole new generations of fans. The opening of
MAMMA MIA! has not only seen theatregoers dancing in the aisles - reliving memories or discovering the ABBA sound for the first time - but also saw the album ABBA GOLD back at number one in the UK charts within weeks of the show’s London premiere.
With at least 3500 albums still being sold every day around the world, the ABBA phenomenon is seemingly unstoppable.
