Mama Mia...they were way ahead of their time....the first group to use Zoom....
Posted on 09/15/2020 2:51:46 PM PDT by Borges
When you’ve sold as many records as Abba have – and only The Beatles have sold more – specific figures become hazy. They disappear into a statistical stratosphere occupied by a tiny elite of global megastars. There are simply too many territories to report on, too many releases to keep track of, too many vast numbers to juggle.
All one can say with any certainty is that the Swedish quartet have sold in excess of 380m albums and singles since they first came to prominence 40 years ago this month, winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with a performance of Waterloo that still ranks as the high point of the much-maligned transcontinental cheese-fest. At their commercial zenith in the late ‘70s Abba were reputedly second only to Volvo in their contribution to Sweden’s exports. Such was the demand for their music that their management had to arrange for royalties from the Soviet Union to be paid in oil commodity rights rather than the embargoed rouble.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
It always astonishes me that Sweden is home to lightweight throw-away pop like ABBA and Ace of Base, yet has also given us quite a few extreme metal acts such as Entombed.
I noted the same thing “are” and “have”? ABBA is singular.
I read somewhere the outfits were for tax reasons.
I have never understood Abba. I have over 75k songs in my collection and not one is an Abba song. I’m not criticizing them, mind you, I just don’t get it.
“ABBA is singular.”
Yes, in American English.
Limeys would regard it as plural.
I love ABBA’s music.
“So they could have just as easily been named BAAB or BABA or ABAB?”
...but they picked the right one. Natural talent.
Each on was a specially talented, and successful musician/performer in their own right.
They were kind of a Swedish All Star Team.
Um, no.
I have no quarrel with Abba insofar as them being a great pop band writing some of the catchiest tunes ever. And they're more popular than me.
But this claim is simply unsupportable.
There is no official tally of global album sales. In general, each country has some sort of authoritative source but even there are differences.
The US has an excellent authoritative source, The RIAA Gold & Platinum Database. In this database, Abba doesn't even crack the top 15.
For those who care, here are the top 15 artists via RIAA of all time:
THE BEATLES Cert. Units (In Millions): 183
GARTH BROOKS Cert. Units (In Millions): 157
ELVIS PRESLEY Cert. Units (In Millions): 139
EAGLES Cert. Units (In Millions): 120
LED ZEPPELIN Cert. Units (In Millions): 111.5
BILLY JOEL Cert. Units (In Millions): 84.5
MICHAEL JACKSON Cert. Units (In Millions): 84
ELTON JOHN Cert. Units (In Millions): 79
AC/DC Cert. Units (In Millions): 75
PINK FLOYD Cert. Units (In Millions): 75
GEORGE STRAIT Cert. Units (In Millions): 69
BARBRA STREISAND Cert. Units (In Millions): 68.5
AEROSMITH Cert. Units (In Millions): 66.5
THE ROLLING STONES Cert. Units (In Millions): 66.5
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Cert. Units (In Millions): 65.5
Mama Mia...they were way ahead of their time....the first group to use Zoom....
I never paid any attention to Abba until I saw a cover band in Olongapo. That girl’s voice sent chills up and down my spine. She should have been an international star, but an accident of birth kept her from having the opportunity.
Been a fan ever since, although when young I went for Doors, Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Allman Brothers, Jethro Tull, Joe Cocker, and that sort of thing.
extremely well produced pop music with good female vocal harmonies
What’s a record?
Ask Joe Biden.
ABBA: It’s an acronym for the four singers’ first names.
At least it wasn’t BAAB singing “Schmeerskahoven”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6bJzCXubA8
Couldn’t find an English version.
Well, they invented Europop.
Garth Brooks 157m? The mind boggles.
I read in this BBC piece 3 times where the writer analyzed the words of some songs as evoking “deep sadness”
Horse manure. Theirs are stylistically, musically, (never mind lyrics) the happiest songs this side of Doobies’ “Listen to the Music”.
They were never Rock, they were pop with great songs and vocal harmonies. Think Saturday Night Fever by the Beegees.
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