Trivia

"Abba Gold" has sold over 28 million copies worldwide. It is Abba's most successful album and one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. It is the third biggest selling album of all-time in the UK with sales exceeding 4.6 million copies.

6th April 1974: Won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England, with the song "Waterloo".

Were once offered a billion dollars to do a reunion tour.

Anni-Frid_Lyngstad and Benny Andersson were engaged in August 1969 but did not marry until October 1978. They divorced in 1981. Agnetha_Fältskog and Björn Ulvaeus married in July 1971 before filing for divorce in 1979, which was finalized in June 1980. The 1980 single "The Winner Takes It All" was written by Björn in the aftermath of their divorce and became a major hit single.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad was the only member of the group who was originally non-Swedish. She was born in Norway, moved to Sweden as an infant, and adopted the Swedish nationality as a teenager.

In 1975, "SOS" became the first song with a palindromic title recorded by a group with a palindromic name - Abba - to score a Top 20 hit on the pop charts.

Artists who have requested permission to use samples of ABBA songs include: Fugees ("The Name of the Game" for "Rumble in the Jungle"), Madonna ("Gimme Gimme Gimme" for "Hung Up"), etc.

Their popular songs were mostly composed by Björn Ulvaeus (lyrics) and Benny Andersson (music).

At the Swedish premiere of Mamma Mia! (2008), the foursome were seen together, in public, for the first time in 22 years.

As of 2008, more than 30 million fans worldwide have seen the stage production "Mamma Mia!" When adapted for the screen, Mamma Mia! (2008) went on to become the most successful movie in the UK's box office history, outstripping the record heretofore held by the Harry Potter series.

Before 1974, the members of the group resisted using the name ABBA, which was what fans and disk jockeys were starting to call them. A Swedish seafood company had trademarked the name in 1906. (As with the singing group, the seafood company's name was an acronym. It stands for "AB Bröderna Ameln" which translates to "Ameln Brothers, Ltd.") In 1974, the two ABBAs agreed to a deal where the singing group would pay a licensing fee to the seafood company in exchange for the use of its name.

All four members of the group were the first-born children in their respective families. Anni-Frid Lyngstad was an only child. The other three each had one sister and no brothers.

Have sold over 375 million records, making them the fourth best-selling music artists in the history of music.

"Abba Gold" has occupied every position in the top 75 of the U.K. album chart, while also appearing in the chart every year since the release except for 2002 and 2006. It now jointly holds the title of longest time spent in the album charts (490 weeks in the Top 100) with "Greatest Hits Vol 1" by Queen.

"Dancing Queen" is their only number one single in the USA. They scored 9 other top 20 hit singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 between 1974 and 1980.

The band only ever toured 3 times in its history. This was mainly to do with them wanting to be the headliner and not the opening act. In fact, they had only played 23 live dates in total before their 1979 tour in support of "Voulez Vous". That tour was the only time the band toured North America and would also prove to be their last world tour.

During one of their live shows in Perth in 1977, an anonymous phone call informed that there was a bomb somewhere at the venue. Everyone except Benny (playing the instrumental piece "Intermezzo No 1") was evacuated. There was no bomb though and both the audience and the artists later returned to the venue and continued the evening.

In 2009, the British performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited celebrated its 75th anniversary by listing the 75 songs that have played most in Great Britain on the radio, in clubs and on jukeboxes. "Dancing Queen" was number eight on the list.

"Waterloo" is the most successful song to come from the Eurovision Song Contest, topping several charts worldwide and selling over 6 million copies. On 22 October 2005, during the 50th celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history.

They have 9 #1 singles and albums in the UK. They have sold over 18 million albums in the UK alone, making them the 7th best selling UK album artists of all time.

ABBA's musical, "Chess" at the Marriott Theatre in Chicago, Illinois was nominated for a 1990 Joseph Jefferson Equity Award for Musical Production.

Not only were ABBA the most successful Swedish band in pop history, they were the most successful pop act to emerge from a Eurovision Song Contest victory (1974), apart from Céline Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988.

Their 1976 single "Fernando" has sold 10 million copies worldwide. In Australia the single spent 14 weeks at number one and 40 weeks on the singles chart. It topped the chart in 13 countries and sold over 6 million copies in 1976 alone.

Unlikely fans of the group have included Bjork, Bono, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, The Edge, Robert Fripp, Lemmy Kilmister, John Lennon, Brian May, Alanis Morissette, Matt Sorum, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Richard Thompson, Pete Townshend and Tina Turner.

Members have included Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

Created the band's name ABBA by taking the first letter of the first name of each band member and flanking the males' initials with the females' initials.

In addition to Mamma Mia! (2008), an earlier film that also features the music of ABBA is the highly acclaimed Muriel's Wedding (1994).

Have never scored a top 10 album in the U.S. Their highest charting album there is "ABBA: The Album" which made #14 in 1978.

According to Björn Ulvaeus, the band's 1976 hit "Dancing Queen" was partly inspired by the groove of George McCrae's hit "Rock Your Baby" (1974).