ABBA Gold


ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released on 21 September 1992 through PolyGram, making it the first compilation to be released after the company had acquired Polar Music, and thus the rights to the ABBA back catalogue.
With sales of 30 million, Gold: Greatest Hits is the best-selling ABBA album, as well one of the best-selling albums worldwide. Since 1992, it has been re-released several times, most notably in 1999 as the first remastered reissue to mark the group's 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, in 2008 to coincide with the release of the film Mamma Mia!, in 2014 to mark the group's 40th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, and most recently in 2022 to commemorate the album's 30th anniversary.

Background and overview

In 1989, Stig Anderson, ABBA's manager and sometime songwriting partner, sold Polar Music to PolyGram. Before that, Polar had only produced and distributed ABBA's records in Scandinavian countries, licensing the recordings for release by different companies around the world. This meant there were many different compilations released in different parts of the world. As these licenses were renewed every three years, and, between 1989 and 1992, had all expired, something PolyGram waited for before releasing any new ABBA compilations. PolyGram made all of the original studio albums available, while all previously released ABBA compilations had been deleted.
In the summer of 1992, Erasure had released a 4 track ABBA cover EP, titled Abba-esque, which topped charts around the world and showed that there was still a strong interest in ABBA's music. Rather than issue the multiple previous compilations, PolyGram put together a new collection, optimized for the CD format.
This new release was compiled by PolyGram International's Chris Griffin and Jackie Stansfield, Polydor UK's George McManus, Ingemar Bergman of Sweden Music and Polar in Sweden, and music journalist John Tobler, who also wrote the album's liner notes. Chris Griffin tried to sequence the tracks as if it were a radio show: the album starts with "Dancing Queen", the band's most famous song, and then journeys through ballads, fun hits and dance classics, before it ends with "Waterloo", a nod to the group's international breakthrough in the [Eurovision Song Contest 1974|1974 Eurovision Song Contest].
The album contains a selection of tracks from ABBA's discography, including three tracks each from Arrival, ABBA: The Album and Super Trouper, four from Voulez-Vous, two from ABBA, and one each from Waterloo and The Visitors. Additionally, it features the singles "Fernando" and "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! ", released on Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits Vol. 2, respectively.
Gold: Greatest Hits was well received by the music-buying public, and went on to be one of the best-selling albums of all time.

Release

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits was released on September 21, 1992. It has been re-released in various "special" or "remastered" releases:
YearEditionNotes
1992Original releaseThe original 1992 release included an edited version of "Voulez-Vous" and the US promo edit of "The [Name of the Game |The Name of the Game]".
1999Remastered reissueReleased, with new liner notes, to coincide with ABBA's 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo". It included the original versions of "Voulez-Vous" and "The Name of the Game". This new version was called the "signature series", as it came with autographs from the band members embedded into the front plastic casing with gold writing. This edition also contained new sleeve notes and was digitally remastered in 24 bit from the original multitracks.
200210th anniversary reissueReleased for the album's 10th anniversary, this edition contained a revised booklet and updated liner notes. The ABBA logo was changed to the official ABBA font and the back cover was redesigned. It was released in Europe and New Zealand. This version was not released in Australia.
2008Second remastered editionReleased to coincide with the release of the film Mamma Mia!, in a so-called super jewel case, with updated liner notes and with remastered sound. The Australasian release featured the European track list, not the Australasian track list on previous issues. This version was issued in the US in 2010, with a regular jewel case instead.
2010CD/DVD Special EditionReleased on December 6, 2010. It included two discs: the original CD and a DVD of all the video clips, newly remastered. The DVD also included six bonus videos: five "before-and-after" split-screen comparisons between the original and the remastered versions of certain clips, and, particularly, a cartoon version of "Money, Money, Money", made circa 1977 by the Australian Reg Grundy Organisation. It was only ever screened briefly and had never been seen in complete form until this edition.
201440th Anniversary EditionA three-CD digi-pack set released as part of the celebrations for the band's 40th anniversary Eurovision victory. It included the original album, the More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits album and 20 B-sides. It was reissued by Universal on October 14 of the same year with a special gold steel box packaging and a magnetic lenticular cover.
202230th anniversary reissueReleased on September 23, 2022, for the album's 30th anniversary. This release was issued in two formats: a gold-colored vinyl or picture disc double-LP package, and a gold or black limited edition cassette, available through certain channels.

Regional variations and tie-ins

Australian editions:
  • The 1992 and 1999 editions released in Australia and New Zealand had a modified track listing to include three local hits, replacing three other songs on the international edition.
  • The 2002 re-release was not released in Australia, while in New Zealand, the international edition was issued.
  • From 2008 onwards, only the international editions have been released in Australia and New Zealand.
Spanish versions:
  • The original 1992 release had a slightly different track listing, replacing the English versions of "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" with the Spanish language versions.
  • Shortly after the release of Gold: Greatest Hits, a Spanish version of the album, titled Oro: Grandes Exitos, was issued, followed later by Mas Oro: Mas ABBA Exitos.
Video and DVD:
  • In 1992 a VHS video was released which included all tracks from the original album. During the 1990s, various regional variations on this video were issued, until Universal Music decided in 2003 to re-issue the video on VHS and DVD. The track listing was similar to the original album, with some added content: a 25-minute documentary produced in 1999, and the 1992 video of "Dancing Queen".
  • In 2010, the DVD was remastered with six bonus clips, including five "split-screen" versions of the clips to show which improvements were made by remastering the old videos. These "split-screen" clips were "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen", "The Winner Takes It All" and "Money, Money, Money". The sixth bonus clip was an Australian cartoon version of "Money, Money, Money". The 2010 edition did not include the 2003 ABBA documentary or the 1992 version of "Dancing Queen". This disc was available as a stand-alone DVD and as part of the 2010 'Special Edition' re-release.
Other variations:
  • In 2002, Gold: Greatest Hits was released in mainland Europe with a bonus second disc.
  • The UK saw a 30th Anniversary Edition released in 2004 with a gold-coloured sleeve cover with black writing, rather than the normal black sleeve with gold writing. The original release included a DVD with 18 of the 19 songs from the CD, excluding "The Name of the Game". It is also available without the DVD.

    Critical reception

Gold: Greatest Hits has been called one of the most influential compilation albums ever released. Music critic Elisabeth Vincentelli credits the album for a revival of critical interest in ABBA's music after ten years of neglect following the band's 1982 break-up.
Writing for Pitchfork in 2019, reviewer Jamieson Cox agreed, describing Gold: Greatest Hits as a "refined package with surprising emotional range". The album, he wrote, "capitalized on a simmering, subcultural interest in ABBA's work and sparked a full-blown revival" that culminated in the Mamma Mia! stage and film productions.
BuzzFeed music editor Matthew Perpetua included Gold: Greatest Hits among the compilations he considered "so well curated in presenting a fertile period of a career that they are arguably an artist's definitive work".
Former Rolling Stone magazine writer Tom Moon included Gold: Greatest Hits among his 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, describing the tracks as "models of impeccable craft", adding that the album is "an excellent starter kit for those wanting to investigate the DNA of post-Beatles pop."
Writing for Vanity Fair, singer-songwriter Elvis Costello included Gold: Greatest Hits among his list of 500 essential albums.

Commercial performance

With pure sales of 5.61 million copies, Gold: Greatest Hits is the second-highest selling album of all time in the United Kingdom, after Queen's Greatest Hits. It is the best-selling album on compact disc in the UK, having sold over 4.04 million copies in that format. In August, 2019, Gold: Greatest Hits became the longest-running top 100 album of all time, spending 900 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. The album spent 61 weeks in the top 10 and topped the British chart 5 times, most recently for two weeks in 2008 following the release of the motion picture Mamma Mia! As of July 2021, Gold became the first album to reach 1000 weeks on the Official Charts in the United Kingdom with pure sales of 5.61 million copies. In January 2025, it was awarded 22× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, denoting 6.6 million album-equivalent unit in the UK.
In the United States, the album has sold a total of 5.8 million copies and is the nineteenth biggest-selling greatest-hits album in the Nielsen Music era. In Canada, Gold: Greatest Hits achieved Diamond status in May, 2000.
In Germany, Gold: Greatest Hits has been certified five times Platinum for shipment of 2.5 million units. It has also been certified 10 times Platinum in Switzerland for sales of 500,000 units. In Austria, the album charted for 397 weeks, making it the all-time second longest stay on the chart. After reaching catalogue status, it returned to the top 10 three times, twice in the wake of the releases of Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and once due to the release of a special edition.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

40th anniversary edition

A three-CD set released on April 7, 2014, as part of the celebration for the 40th anniversary of ABBA's Eurovision victory. Disc one consisted of the original album, disc two of the album More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits, and disc three of B-sides.
The information on disc three has been adapted from the 40th anniversary reissue's cover. All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Personnel

ABBA
Production

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums 12
Dutch Albums 20
European Albums 26
German Albums 32
New Zealand Albums 49
Swiss Albums 39
UK Albums 12

Chart Position
Australian Albums 95
Austrian Albums 6
Canada Top Albums/CDs 35
Dutch Albums 4
European Albums 13
German Albums 9
Swiss Albums 5
UK Albums 36

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Australian Albums 9

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Australian Albums 45
New Zealand Albums 15

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UK Albums 89

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UK Albums 100

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UK Albums 55

Chart Position
Australian Albums
25th anniversary edition		8
Belgian Albums 33
Belgian Albums 38
European Albums 10
UK Albums 4

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Canadian Albums 48
South Korean International Albums 5
UK Albums 41

Chart Position
Canadian Albums 79
UK Albums 148

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UK Albums 193

Chart Position
UK Albums 47

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UK Albums 118

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UK Albums 194

Chart Position
UK Albums 166

Chart Position
Australian Albums 39
Austrian Albums 62
Dutch Albums 94
European Albums 42
Hungarian Albums 66
New Zealand Albums 46
Swedish Albums 93
Swiss Albums 66
UK Albums 19
US Top Catalog Albums 23

Chart Position
European Albums 80
Swiss Albums 71
UK Albums 54
US Top Catalog Albums 8

Chart Position
UK Albums 90
US Top Catalog Albums 20

Chart Position
UK Albums 130

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 47
UK Albums 140

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 64
Swedish Albums 34
UK Albums 119

Chart Position
Australian Albums 88
Austrian Albums 11
Danish Albums 17
German Albums 47
New Zealand Albums 46
Swedish Albums 48
Swiss Albums 24

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 39
Danish Albums 96
Swedish Albums 56
Swiss Albums 67
UK Albums 79

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 55
Icelandic Albums 73
Swiss Albums 82
Swedish Albums 64
UK Albums 72

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 47
UK Albums 77

Chart Position
Australian Albums 60
Austrian Albums 15
Irish Albums 12
Swiss Albums 40
UK Albums 20

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 50
Belgian Albums 63
Belgian Albums 175
Irish Albums 22
Polish Albums 52
Swiss Albums 58
UK Albums 32

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 43
Belgian Albums 62
Irish Albums 19
Swiss Albums 75
UK Albums 19

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 16
Belgian Albums 38
Belgian Albums 156
German Albums 69
Irish Albums 7
Swiss Albums 27
UK Albums 13
US Billboard 200158

Chart Position
Belgian Albums 65
Canadian Albums 43
German Albums 48
Swiss Albums 36
UK Albums 10
US Billboard 20096

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 53
Belgian Albums 63
Belgian Albums 195
Canadian Albums 35
Swiss Albums 75
UK Albums 10
US Billboard 20098

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 32
Belgian Albums 82
Canadian Albums 42
Swiss Albums 60
UK Albums 14
US Billboard 200112

Chart Position
Belgian Albums 200
Canadian Albums 49
Swiss Albums 70
UK Albums 19
US Billboard 200121
US Top Dance Albums 4

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales