40 Years of Abba

Abba are undoubtedly one of the most successful and well known pop groups of all time and this year celebrates 40 years of Abba; since 4 teenagers from Sweden took the world by storm. Strangely their rise to success was thanks to the ever cheesy ‘Eurovision Song Contest’ which they went onto to win in 1974 and rose to stardom in the UK with the release of a ‘Greatest Hits’ album…

In March 1976, the band released the compilation album Greatest Hits, despite having had only six Top 40 hits in the United Kingdom and the United States. Nevertheless, it became their first UK number 1 album, and also took ABBA into the Top 50 on the US album charts for the first time, eventually selling more than a million copies there. At the same time, Germany released a compilation named The Very Best of ABBA, also becoming a number 1 album there whereas the Greatest Hits compilation followed a few months later to number 2 on the German charts, despite all similarities with The Very Best album. Also included on Greatest Hits was a new single, “Fernando”, which took the world by storm, hitting number 1 in at least thirteen countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, and the single went on to sell over 10 million copies.

40 years on and Abba are still very much in the hearts and mind of the Great British public with rumours flying around of the group bringing a 40th Anniversary tour to audiences around the world, despite not performing live together since 1982. Here’s to hoping!

In the meantime you can enjoy all of Abba hits on iTunes as well as tuning into Channel 5 on Friday 13th December to see a collection of shows dedicated the band and footage of their 1979 performance at Wembley Arena.