ABBA Strikes Gold Again

Swedish Dancing Queens Return to Top with Mamma Mia, Greatest Hits

Aug 1, 2008

Ever enduring pop/dance act from the 1970's, ABBA, remains cool with a new movie, Mamma Mia, based on their songs, and their first ever US number one album.

With the release of Mamma Mia, The Movie, based on the Tony Award-nominated musical, which was also based on ABBA songs, the Swedish quartet has once again stepped into the limelight, 34 years after they first charted with their Eurovision winning entry “Waterloo”.

Scanning the top album charts in the UK and America, the resurgence of popularity for ABBA becomes vibrantly noticeable as they once again sit comfortable at the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

ABBA Gold

With the movie in theatres, ABBA Gold, the band’s Greatest Hits collection, in its 441st week on the chart, rebounded to No. 6 on the July 18 issue of Billboard Magazine's Top Pop Catalog chart and finally topped the same the following week. This feat makes ABBA Gold the Swedish quartet's first American number one album.

SoundScan also reported to Billboard that ABBA Gold has sold 4.4 million copies since its release in 1992, and 25 million copies worldwide. In the UK, ABBA Gold currently sits at number 2 on the album chart, one place below Viva la Vida by Coldplay.

Meanwhile the soundtrack to Mamma Mia is faring well; the Original Cast Recording currently sits at number 20 in the UK, and an even more impressive number 3 placing on the Billboard 200 Albums tally.

Mamma Mia

The movie, starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth and Christine Baranski, recounts the tale of Sophie, a girl in search of her father’s identity. To discover her paternity, Sophie invites three of her mother’s former lovers to the Greek island where Sophie’s mother apparently spent one very loose summer 20 years before. Sophie hopes to discover which of the men is her father before her wedding day.

The story is told through ABBA songs, and the soundtrack includes dozens of tracks including the group’s most popular hits : "Take a Chance on Me", "The Winner Takes It All", "S.O.S.", and "Dancing Queen", the legendary group’s only number one single in the United States.

The Winner Takes It All

ABBA released their last album in 1982 entitled Under Attack. Since that time a host of compilations and Greatest Hits packages have emerged keeping the group on the constant forefront of dance cool. ABBA Gold has been the group’s most successful collection of greatest hits to date, having topped UK and US charts several times over the years.

While the member of ABBA continue to have successful solo careers working on other projects, the band has vowed in numerous interviews that they shall never reform or play together again.

The copyright of the article ABBA Strikes Gold Again in Dance/Techno Music is owned by James W. Coates. Permission to republish ABBA Strikes Gold Again in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.