How a greatest hits collection spearheaded the ABBA revival

It seems hard to believe now, considering you can’t hit a wedding dancefloor without hearing a bit of “Voulez-Vous” or “Super Trouper”. But back in 1992, ABBA’s reputation wasn't conducive to a long-running West End/Broadway musical (and two phenomenally successful movie adaptations). 

That's not to mention the holographic residency predicted to revolutionise the touring industry and a blockbuster record that would become one of the biggest-selling of all time.

However, that all changed in September 1992 when ABBA Gold first hit the shelves.

The Swedish quartet’s back catalogue had received the compilation treatment many times before, of course. In fact, 1975’s Greatest Hits—released just a year after Waterloo—its 1979 follow-up and 1982’s career swansong The Singles: The First Ten Years all reached the top of the UK charts.

Yet, thanks to manager Stig Anderson’s unusual licensing practices, almost every territory the band had conquered was offered a different retrospective catered to its particular tastes in perfectly-crafted Scandi-pop.

This meant that ABBA were left without a hits collection that could be described as definitive.

You couldn’t even buy an ABBA hits collection unless you rummaged around a charity shop. All previous efforts had been deleted and Anderson’s Polar Music Group had failed to capitalise on the compact disc boom with new releases on the format.

That was until Polygram acquired the independent label, and more importantly all of its rights to ABBA’s entire discography, in 1989.

All but one of the tracks featured on ABBA Gold had previously enjoyed the spotlight in the UK Top 10

Coincidentally, a mini-ABBA revival had already started to take place by the time Polygram finally got round to curating a retrospective three years later.

Synth-pop duo Erasure scored their only UK chart-topper with the ABBA-esque EP, with Andy Bell and Vince Clarke cosplaying as Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad in the memorable video for “Take A Chance On Me.”

Björn Again, arguably the next best thing, released ABBA-fied covers of the duo’s biggest hits “Stop” and “A Little Respect.” And Bono invited songwriters Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson to perform “Dancing Queen” on the Stockholm leg of their Zoo TV tour.

Polygram still didn’t leave anything to chance though. Instead of sequencing ABBA Gold in chronological order (it begins with their fourth number one "Dancing Queen" and ends with their debut hit "Waterloo"), the label relied on fan opinion.

Its sleek cover artwork, simply some gold lettering on a black background, was undoubtedly an attempt to attract those hipsters embarrassed about buying such an unashamedly pop album in public.

And if ever there was a case of all killer, no filler, of its 19 tracks, only “Thank You for the Music” had failed to make the UK Top 10.

Such tactics paid off when ABBA Gold replaced another compilation, Belinda Carlisle’s The Best of Belinda Vol. 1, at pole position in its first week, with a reissue of “Dancing Queen” returning the foursome to the Top 20 singles chart for the first time since 1981’s “One of Us.”

The album also enjoyed similar success in France, Germany and, inevitably, Sweden.

Thanks to the use of ABBA’s music in everything from Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to the star-studded tribute album ABBAmania and a BRIT Awards medley—and who can forget junior version A*Teens?—it remained a regular chart presence throughout the decade.

One of ABBA’s great strengths is that by refusing to conform to musical trends, their output has always sounded timeless.

ABBA Gold had already racked up over 300 weeks on the album chart when a 1999 remastered version, issued to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the band’s Eurovision victory, sent it back to number one across five non-consecutive weeks.

This wasn’t the first, or the last, time Polygram would tinker with the original. The Australian release replaced three numbers with local hits “Ring Ring”, “I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do” and “Rock Me”. Oro: Grandes Exitos, a ten-track collection of the band’s Spanish-sung tunes, arrived soon after.

And there have been upgrades in 2002 (new liner notes), 2010 (bonus DVD) and 2014 (three CD package featuring 20 B-sides and 1993’s More ABBA Gold).

The continued success of Mamma Mia!, a jukebox musical which interweaved ABBA’s biggest hits into the far-fetched story of a bride-to-be's paternal quest, has ensured ABBA Gold remains a steady seller on both sides of the Atlantic ever since.

Though the collection has never peaked any higher than No.25 on the Billboard 200, approximately six million Americans have it in their collection.

And while many film goers chose to relive Pierce Brosnan’s caterwauling by purchasing its original soundtrack, the film adaptation also gave the compilation a third lease of life—a second remastering of ABBA Gold spent a fortnight atop the UK album chart in 2008.

A full 30 years on and ABBA Gold lies only second to Queen’s Greatest Hits as the biggest-selling UK album ever, having shifted a colossal five and a half million copies over a record-breaking 1000 chart weeks.

With their belated new studio effort Voyage and pioneering avatar shows pushing ABBA even further into the spotlight, those remarkable numbers will only continue to rise.

“In the 1980s, especially the first half, [it] was like ABBA was forgotten,” Ulvaeus told Gay Times in 2019. ABBA Gold guaranteed the Swedes will be a part of the pop cultural landscape forever.

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