‘ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits’ becomes the UK’s second biggest selling album of all time
ABBA’s Gold: Greatest Hits has overtaken sales of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to become the UK’s second biggest selling album of all time, according to the Official Charts Company’s sales data.
While both albums have now sold over 5.1 million copies in the UK, ABBA’s 1992 ‘Best Of’ collection has nudged ahead of The Beatles’ iconic 1967 album by nearly 15,000 copies. An estimated one in five British households owns a copy of either Gold or Sgt Pepper’s.
Björn Ulvaeus said, “It feels unreal – outselling the greatest record of all time!”.
Gold, which features all nine of ABBA’s Official Singles Chart Number 1s including Waterloo, Mamma Mia, Fernando, Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You, The Name Of The Game, Take A Chance On Me, The Winner Takes It All and Super Trouper, has spent a total of eight weeks at Number 1 on the Official Album Charts.
The announcement coincides with this year’s Eurovision Song Contest being held in Malmö, Sweden; ABBA famously won Eurovision in 1974 with Waterloo, which became their first ever Number 1 single on the UK’s Official Singles Chart.
Official Charts Company Managing Director, Martin Talbot, said: “The British people took Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-frid to their hearts from the night that they won the Eurovision Song Contest on British soil, in Brighton, 39 years ago. So it is perhaps apt that their huge Gold hits album has reached such heady heights, all these years later.”
Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits album remains the UK’s biggest selling album of all-time with 5.9 million sales. Adele’s landmark 2011 album, 21, and Oasis’ 1995 second album, (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?, complete the Top 5.
In related news, Agnetha Faltskog has scored her highest charting solo album of her career, with the new release A entering the charts at number 6. Agnetha’s previous UK best was 2004’s My Colouring Book, which peaked at Number 12.
Related links:
- Official Charts Company – ‘ABBA overtake the Beatles to score UK’s second biggest selling album’
- ABBA Gold – the UK’s biggest selling CD
Thanks to Niclas Ericsson for the link.
GREAT news re Agnetha’s album – in my opinion certainly the best one of all her post Abba solos. Hope it encourages her to do more new stuff. (I wonder if there were any tracks left off the album). Please too about the Gold sales, but would have preferred it to be a “real” album say Arrival or SuperTrouper getting the reputation. Compilations never a favourite of mine. But at least it keeps them in the public mind. Finally am not keen on that Eurovsion song – wish they had kept it going fast with the beat. I find it very repetitive and ususallt love ALL Bennys compositions. Still, maybe it will grow on me.
As regards the UK’s Top 10 Best Selling ‘Hits’ Albums:, ABBA have the 2nd, (‘Gold’ – 5,100,000), & 7th, (‘Greatest Hits’ (1976) – 2,610,000). Queen have
the 1st, (‘Greatest Hits’ (One) – 5,900,000), & 3rd, (‘Greatest Hits II’ – 3,900,000). None of ABBA’s Studio Albums are anywhere near the Top 100 Best Selling UK Albums. ‘Arrival’ is ABBA’s biggest UK Studio Album, with around 1,670,000 Sales. ‘Super Trouper’ is 2nd – 1,150,000 Sales. But, ‘Gold’ & ‘Greatest Hits’ far outsold them. A 3rd UK ABBA Compilation also outsold them -‘Greatest Hits Vol.2’. That one sold 1,200,000, in the UK. ABBA sold a lot more UK ‘Hits’ Albums, than Studio Albums.
Oops! I meant to say that ‘Greatest Hits Vol.2’ outsold ‘Super Trouper’, &
all other UK ABBA Studio Albums, except ‘Arrival’. I made it sound like it outsold
‘Arrival’, as well!