ABBA Makes History! Legendary Group Scores First No. 1 on Billboard Dance Chart in 50 Years

Published 17 hours ago3 minute read
Precious Eseaye
Precious Eseaye
ABBA Makes History! Legendary Group Scores First No. 1 on Billboard Dance Chart in 50 Years

ABBA's iconic 1992 compilation, Gold: Greatest Hits, has achieved a significant milestone by rising to No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Dance Albums chart, marking the legendary group’s first career chart-topper on this specific ranking. For the tracking week of January 2-8, the album garnered an impressive 15,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., according to Luminate. This collection features many of the quartet’s most enduring and beloved tracks, including global hits such as “Dancing Queen,” “Mamma Mia,” and “Take a Chance on Me.”

Before this recent achievement, ABBA had only once topped a Billboard dance chart. In 1981, a combination of three tracks – “Lay All Your Love on Me,”“Super Trouper,” and ”On and On and On” – spent a week at No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart. This practice of combining tracks into a single listing was common at the time, particularly when multiple songs from an album were receiving significant club play from DJs.

Beyond its success on the dance charts, Gold: Greatest Hits has also been a remarkable presence on the all-format Billboard 200. The album has spent an astonishing 411 weeks on the chart to date, currently positioned at No. 80, making it by far the longest-charting album in ABBA’s extensive catalog. In comparison, their next longest-charted release, Greatest Hits, spent 61 weeks on the chart between 1976 and 1979.

ABBA’s history of Billboard No. 1s extends across various charts. The group first reached the top of a Billboard chart in October 1976 with “Fernando” on the Adult Contemporary chart. In April 1977, “Dancing Queen” became their singular No. 1 hit on the highly competitive Billboard Hot 100.

Another No. 1 arrived in 1981 when “The Winner Takes It All” also topped the Adult Contemporary chart. On the albums front, ABBA secured its first No. 1 in 2021 with their comeback and presumed farewell project, Voyage, which debuted atop both the Top Album Sales and Vinyl Albums charts, narrowly missing the top spot on the Billboard 200 by peaking at No. 2.

It is also noteworthy that the popular film soundtracks for 2008’s Mamma Mia! and 2018’s Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again are billed as such and not directly to ABBA. The 1999 stage production album of Mamma Mia! is an original Broadway cast recording.

Despite not being ABBA-billed, these related projects achieved significant chart success: the 2008 soundtrack spent one week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and 14 weeks atop the Soundtracks chart, while the sequel’s soundtrack notched three weeks at No. 1 on Soundtracks and reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. The original cast recording spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Cast Albums chart.

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