ABBA Albums Ranked
ABBA (/ˈæbə/, Swedish pronunciation: [ˈabːa]) is a Swedish pop supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group’s name is an acronym of the first letters of their first names. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1983. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest. They are the most successful group to have taken part in the competition. Estimates of ABBA’s total records sales are over 150 million, making them one of the best-selling music artists of all time. ABBA was the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States. They are the best-selling Swedish band of all time and are one of the best-selling bands originating in continental Europe. ABBA had eight consecutive number-one albums in the UK. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin America and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish. ABBA was honored at the 50th-anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 when their hit “Waterloo” was chosen as the best song in the competition’s history. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2015, their song “Dancing Queen” was inducted into the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame. Here are all of ABBA albums ranked.
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10. Greatest Hits (1975)
“Truly, a collection of ABBA’s biggest hits spanning their career. Perfectly named as each one of these songs most likely achieved gold certification in some part of the world. Yet, many of these great songs seem to be lost from American memory. Only a handful were able to break the top 10, but ABBA seemed to be consistently getting hit after hit. this collection brings them all back to back, and really give you a good look at the band ABBA as a whole.”
9. Ring Ring (1973)
“The title track was a hit in several European countries but not the UK, so this album never got a British release on vinyl. That is a pity, because the songs here are of a remarkably high quality. Five of them appeared on the first Greatest hits album – Ring ring, Another town another train, People need love, Nina pretty ballerina and He is your brother – every one of them superb. It might all have been different if Ring ring had been Sweden’s entry in the 1973 Eurovision song contest. It came third in the qualifying contest. The Swedish public thought it should have been their entry. Voting rules were changed and Abba won for Sweden a year later with Waterloo.”
8. Waterloo (1988)
“The album starts with a bang, the titular track which brought them global fame. “Waterloo” is one of ABBA’s strongest tracks, and a true classic of the 1970s. “Waterloo” is followed by two Bjorn lead tracks “Sitting in the Palmtree” and “King Kong Song.” Each are limited by their somewhat goofy lyrics, but they are also strangely appealing in a sort of guilty pleasure way.”
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7. Voulez-Vous (1979)
“Voulez-Vous shows ABBA on their disco roots. The whole album isn’t disco but most of it is. The only thing I wish they did on this new edition of Voulez-Vous album is make “Summer Night City” the long version. The long version is 10 times better. It starts out soft and then goes right into disco. Another thing is that they could have added another song to the album, “Dream World”. I think this song could have been a huge single but they didn’t even think it was even album material because it didn’t even make any light of day until 1994.”
6. Super Trouper (1980)
“Abba is a group who never truly had a bad album, but they crossed all boundaries with their 1980 release Super Trouper. Toning down the disco-pop from Voulez-Vous and replacing it with a more sophisticated adult new wave pop beat. Abba saved themselves from the disco backlash (although their best disco song, LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME, is featured in this collection)with these set of songs. The Winner Takes It All was the first single released.”
5. ABBA (1975)
“Just to hear or listen with nothing else to do is pretty amazing. The quality is fantastic as each note is sung and the instruments are being played. With closed eyes you can almost picture yourself there at that concert up on the stage singing right next to one of those gorgeous guys.”
4. The Visitors (1981)
““The Visitors” was Abba’s eighth and ultimately final studio album. For the loyal Abba fans, this album was quite a shocker. Best way to describe it, “The Visitors” is not your usual ABBA album. The group at this point consisted of two formerly married couples who were now both divorced so the sessions for “The Visitors” could not have been easy. The songs on “The Visitors” are no longer simple and light pop fair but instead the themes of break ups, loneliness, moving on and even the Cold War in Europe are all very present on this beautifully written and beautifully sung album.”
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3. The Album (1977)
“ABBA: The Album is -to my like- the best album of the Swedish band, which also accompanied the famous ABBA The Movie, available on this site. The songs are sticky and with excellent arrangements. Highlights include Eagle, Take a Chance on Me, The Name of the Game, Thank You For the Music, Hole in Your Soul… well, they’re all really great songs.”
2. Gold (1992)
“he sound is so far superior to the CD, it’s like a whole new experience. It’s smoother, more spacious, natural, and detailed yet still retains the pop, processed sound. They didn’t try to ‘clean up’ or alter the mix. Very faithful to the original in my opinion. One caveat is that my copy has a bit of surface noise. It’s pretty audible in between songs but rarely during the music. I think this is going to be one of my favorite LPs as well.”
1. Arrival (1976)
“The opening track, “When I kissed the teacher” is a great song. Good enough to warrant inclusion in any number of compilations, which it doesn’t seem to have done. Perhaps The Police’s song “Don’t stand so close to me” could be considered a response to this song-they both deal with the theme of teacher/student relationships, but they approach it from different perspectives. ABBA’s song is the better pop song though. It has a very nice dual acoustic guitar strumming pattern. Frida is on lead, and Agnetha (the beautiful blonde…but hey, they were all beautiful!) gives the chorus her nice, glassy vocal sound. The song features a bassy guitar, overlapping vocals and an interesting string sound. I’m pretty sure that my LP on a pretty poor turntable had a scratch or something which made it get stuck.”