Greatest Hits (ABBA album)

Greatest hits
Compilation album from ABBA
Publication (s)	17th November 1975
Label (s)	Polar Music (Scandinavia), Polydor (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands etc.), Epic (United Kingdom), RCA (Australia), Atlantic Records (USA), Vouge / Baboo (France) etc.
Format (s)	LP, MC, CD
Genre (s)	pop
Title (number)	15th
occupation	Singing : Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus Bass : Rutger Gunnarsson Guitar : Janne Schaffner, Anders Glenmark, Lasse Wellander, Björn Ulvaeus Drums : Ola Brunkert , Roger Palm Keyboard : Benny Andersson Agnetha Fältskog Bjorn Ulvaeus Benny Andersson Anni-Frid Lyngstad
production	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Studio (s)	Metronomes
chronology ABBA (1975) Greatest hits Arrival (1976)

Greatest Hits (in some countries The Best of ABBA ) is a compilation album by the Swedish pop group ABBA , which was released in 1975 in different editions depending on the record label . In Germany and the Netherlands it was published in June 1975, while in Scandinavia it was published on November 17 of the same year. The track list consisted of songs from their first three studio albums and, depending on the edition, consisted of twelve to fifteen songs.

The LP became a bestseller in several countries in 1976 and became number one album of the year in Germany , Austria , Great Britain , Australia and New Zealand . Viewed worldwide, the album became one of ABBA's most successful and sold over 6 million copies in just one year. According to official statistics from Polar Music , it was the group's biggest sales success in 1981 with over 7 million copies.

expenditure

• Polydor

The label, which sold ABBA's records in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands, put together the track list for a compilation in June 1975 and released the LP a short time later under the title “The Best of ABBA”. After most of the group's singles had already been very successful in these countries, a corresponding album should follow up on them. A picture of the group from the previous year, on which the band members posed in their “Waterloo costumes”, served as the cover. In the spring of 1976 a new edition was pressed and the list of titles was expanded to include Fernando .

• Polar

ABBA's recording label originally planned to release a group's best-of album in the spring of 1976. Along with a new single, it should further increase interest in the band. After Polydor had already realized the idea and this LP was offered to Swedish record dealers, the date was postponed and the album was released under the title “Greatest Hits” in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. For this purpose, Bengt Malmqvist created a surreal illustration of the group for the cover.

• Epic

Along with the release in Scandinavia, the LP was released in Great Britain and Ireland in late 1975. The cover came from a photo session in the autumn of 1975 and was printed across the front and back, similar to the Scandinavian edition. It shows the four members sitting on a park bench.

• Atlantic

Greatest Hits was released in the US and Canada with the same cover and slightly different track list as the Epic edition. It is unclear whether this took place in 1975 or only in 1976, as the LP only entered the respective album charts in both countries in autumn 1976.

• RCA

Based on the Polydor edition, the album was also released in Australia and New Zealand in 1975 under The Best of ABBA . The cover photo here was also from 1974 and shows the group in sophisticated clothing against a blue background. The track list was identical to that of the Polydor version and consisted of twelve songs. RCA also sold the record in Mexico, but here under Greatest Hits and with the same track list as the Epic edition.

success

The Best of ABBA (Polydor 1976 edition)

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Greatest Hits / The Best of ABBA   DE 1 October 15, 1975 (88 weeks)   AT 1 04/15/1976 (52 weeks)   UK 1 04/10/1976 (130 weeks)   US 48 09/18/1976 (61 weeks)   SE 1 11/27/1975 (28 weeks)

Greatest hits

In Sweden, the LP reached number 1 in the charts in the year of its release and was sold around 293,000 times by 1976. The album also reached number 1 in Norway and Denmark and number 3 in Finland. In Great Britain, Greatest Hits entered the charts in April 1976 and reached the top position five weeks later, which it held for a total of eleven weeks. More than 1.25 million copies were sold in the same year. By the end of the 1970s around 2.6 million units had been sold, making the LP the second most successful album of the decade in Great Britain. Over 200,000 copies have been sold in Ireland.

In France, where Greatest Hits was released on the “ Vogue ” label, the album reached number 9 and sold 100,000 units. After a promotional trip in May 1978, the LP also got the circuit board record in the USA for more than 1 million copies sold. It was also sold over 600,000 times in Canada. Greatest Hits appeared in 1975 in Italy with “DIG-It”, in 1976 in Argentina and Mexico with “ RCA ”, and in 1977 in Spain with “Carnaby”. The chart success in these countries did not materialize.

The best of ABBA

This edition reached number 1 in Austria and Germany, where it was awarded a gold record in 1976 for 250,000 units sold. In 1978 it received platinum for a total of 500,000 pieces. In the Netherlands, it occupied the top position of the compilation Top 30 charts for 21 weeks and was sold around 500,000 times. Since there were no album charts in Belgium and Switzerland at that time, no reliable statements can be made about the success of the album there.

In Australia, the LP entered the album charts at the end of 1975 in the wake of the emerging Abbamania . The TV special of the same name by ABBA, broadcast in March 1976, increased the interest in the hit collection immensely. The Best of ABBA became one of the best -selling albums in Australian record history, selling 400,000 copies in just ten weeks. RCA cooperated with almost all record labels in the country in order to have enough press shops available and to cope with the demand. The album was number 1 in the album charts for 16 weeks in a row and was sold over 1 million times by the end of 1976. In that country, which at that time had 13½ million inhabitants, every thirteenth or every fourth household owned a copy of this album. The Best of ABBA had achieved a total of 22 platinum awards by 1979 and is still one of Australia's best-selling albums with over 1.1 million copies.

The album's success in New Zealand was in no way inferior to that in Australia. It was number 1 on the album charts for a total of 18 weeks and was awarded 18 times platinum . By 1979 it had sold more than 250,000 times. The country had fewer than three million inhabitants at the time, so that number would have been equivalent to 36 million copies sold in the United States. To date, The Best of ABBA is the best-selling album in New Zealand with 360,000 copies and 24 times platinum.

Track list

Greatest hits page 1 SOS He is your brother Ring ring Hasta Mañana Nina, pretty ballerina Honey, honey So long Page 2 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do People need love Bang-A-Boomerang Another town, another train Mamma Mia Dance (While The Music Still Goes On) Waterloo

The best of ABBA page 1 Waterloo Ring Ring (Remix 1974) Honey, honey Mamma Mia People need love Nina, pretty ballerina Page 2 I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do SOS Dance (While the Music Still Goes On) Bang-A-Boomerang Hasta Mañana So long

literature

• Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. Bosworth Musikverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86543-100-4 (German translation: Helmut Müller).
• Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. Story and songs compact. Bosworth Music, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86543-227-8 ( compact story and songs ), (German translation: Cecilia Senge).
• “ABBA 5 YEARS” in: Billboard Newspaper - The International Misic-Record-Tape Newsweekly , September 8, 1979 issue

Web links

• Information about the album on the official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Germany - Additional Information, Year End Charts section, accessed on August 12, 2017 
2. ↑ austriancharts.at The Austrian hit parade and music portal, JAHRESHITPARADE ALBEN 1976, accessed on August 12, 2017
3. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. United Kingdom - Additional Information, Year End Charts section, accessed August 12, 2017 
4. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Australia - Additional Information, Year End Charts section, accessed August 12, 2017 
5. ↑ nztop40.co.nz The Official New Zealand Music Chart, END OF YEAR CHARTS 1976, accessed August 12, 2017
6. ↑ superseventies.com “Waterloo”
7. ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Abba - Story and Songs compact , p. 99
8. ↑ SuperSeventies.com
9. ↑ Information on the album in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands on getabba.com
10. ↑ ^{a b} Information on the album in Argentina, Mexico and Spain on getabba.com
11. ↑ ^{a b} Information on the album in Italy, South Africa, USA, Great Britain and Canada on getabba.com
12. ↑ getabba.com The Best of ABBA (New Zealand, Australia), accessed on August 21, 2017
13. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts UK Charts US Charts SE
14. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Denmark, accessed August 22, 2017 
15. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Finland, accessed August 22, 2017 
16. ↑ Palm: Light and Shadow, p. Follows
17. ↑ ABBA - The Worldwide Chart Lists ( Memento of the original from March 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. United Kingdom - Additional Information, Accreditations & Sales Figures: United Kingdom Albums, accessed August 22, 2017 
18. ↑ Information about the album in France on getabba.com
19. ↑ riaa.com search "ABBA"
20. ↑ musikindustrie.de Search "ABBA"
21. ↑ dutchcharts.nl ABBA - The Best Of, accessed on August 21, 2017
22. ↑ ABBA MAKES HISTORY IN AUSTRALIA RCA advertisement from 1976, accessed August 22, 2017
23. ↑ ABBA SUCCESS STORY - RCA AUSTRALIA 1976 RCA advertisement from 1976/77, accessed on August 22, 2017
24. ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. P. 336
25. ^ Dean Scapolo: The Complete New Zealand Music Charts: 1966-2006 . Dean Scapolo and Maurienne House, Wellington 2007, ISBN 978-1877443-00-8 , p. 12.

Remarks

1. ↑ Sweden
2. ↑ ^{a b} New Zealand, Ireland
3. ^ ^{A b} Holland, France
4. ↑ Canada
5. ↑ ^{a b} Australia