Updated 16 November 2025

What does ABBA mean?

ABBA is an acronym of the initials of the four members’ first names:

• Anni-Frid (Frida) Lyngstad
• Benny Andersson
• Björn Ulvaeus
• Agnetha Fältskog

Which A and which B represent which member?

There is no official order for the names. In different interviews or introductions over the years, either Agnetha or Frida would be identified as the first or last A, the same for Björn and Benny.

In the early days when the group was known by their first names, and even for a couple of years after the name ABBA had been adopted, the billing was Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid (later Frida). In the opening titles of ABBA – The Movie in 1977, the order of names was Anni-Frid, Benny, Björn, Agnetha. The Official International ABBA Fan Club in an earlier incarnation was known as the Agnetha, Benny, Björn, Frida Fan Club. ABBA Voyage promotional material mostly lists them as Anni-Frid, Benny, Björn, Agnetha, though they have been listed as Agnetha, Björn, Benny, Anni-Frid on a couple of occasions.

How old are the ABBA members?

Björn is the oldest, born 25 April 1945 (making him 80). Frida is next oldest, born 15 November 1945 (80). Benny was born 16 December 1946 (78), while Agnetha is the youngest of the four, born 5 April 1950 (75).

How many albums did ABBA release?

ABBA released eight studio albums between 1973 and 1982:
Ring Ring (1973)
Waterloo (1974)
ABBA (1975)
Arrival (1976)
ABBA – The Album (1977)
Voulez-Vous (1979)
Super Trouper (1980)
The Visitors (1981)

In 1980 they recorded an album of Spanish-language versions of earlier hits, Gracias Por La Música.

During the group’s lifetime, three “official” compilation albums were released:

Greatest Hits (1975)
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (1979)
The Singles – The First Ten Years (1982)

In 2021 the ninth studio album is released:

Voyage (2021)

There have been innumerable compilations and box sets released around the world since the first in 1974. Check the Discs section in the Menu bar above for a selection of compilations.

How many ABBA songs are there?

During their time together ABBA released 98 unique songs (97 in English, 1 only in Swedish), plus four alternate mixes, three Swedish versions, three German versions, one French version, and 14 Spanish versions. That’s a total of 123 songs.

Since the group ended another five complete songs have been released (two of those live recordings), plus another Spanish version, one alternate recording of a released song, three further alternate mixes, and two medleys of snippets of previously unreleased songs, adding 30 individual titles. That makes a total of 156 songs.

With the release of Voyage in 2021 11 more songs are added (10 songs plus an alternate video version of one song), making the total 167 released songs.

This does not include the myriad of edited versions to either shorten or lengthen a song without altering the mix – at last count there were 80 or so of these.

On top of this, there are three songs only released on limited-edition promotional singles, and two songs performed in concert that have never been commercially released on record, though one has been partially released on film in ABBA – The Movie. There are some other songs performed on TV or radio, and an unknown number of songs performed in the very early years touring together before the group first recorded together, though these are not considered canon. All together, a final total of 172 songs.

See the Songs section for more details. Go to the Menu bar above.

What are ABBA’s biggest selling album and single?

ABBA’s biggest selling album is the 1992 compilation ABBA Gold – Greatest Hits, which is reported to have sold over 32 million copies to date and continues to sell well. Super Trouper is reputed to be ABBA’s biggest selling studio album. The biggest selling single worldwide is ‘Dancing Queen’ closely followed by ‘Fernando’, and then probably ‘Waterloo’.

Who sings lead on a particular song?

Check the Who sings which song? page.

What year did ABBA win the Eurovision Song Contest?

ABBA won the contest on 6 April 1974 with ‘Waterloo’.

In 1973 Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, as the group was then known, entered ‘Ring Ring’ in Melodifestival (Melody Festival), the Swedish heats for the Eurovision Song Contest. It came third.

Where can I write to the ABBA members?

You can write the any of the ABBA members c/-:

Universal Music AB
Box 55777
114 83 Stockholm
Sweden
OR
Mono Music AB
Södra Brobänken 41 A
Skeppsholmen 111 49
Stockholm
Sweden

Please note that ABBA’s representative Görel Hanser has asked that fans not send items to be signed and returned. Any items sent will probably be returned, not signed.

For Mamma Mia! related correspondence:
Littlestar Services  Ltd
6 Fareham St
London
W1D 3BD UK 

However there is no guarantee that you will get any reply, or how long a reply may take.

What ABBA concert films are available?

There are two available on DVD:

ABBA – The Movie, a 90-minute cinema documentary filmed during ABBA’s March 1977 tour in Australia (also available on Blu ray).

ABBA In Concert, filmed for a one-hour television special at Wembley Arena in London in November 1979.

Why are there no complete ABBA concert films available?

Director Lasse Hallström has said that over 50 hours of footage was shot on the Australian tour for what became ABBA – The Movie, but in various interviews over the years he has said that either the footage is in storage somewhere waiting to be found, or was destroyed when the film was completed as surplus to requirements. Apparently in preparation for filming the Australian tour, one concert of the European tour in January/February was filmed, but it is not known how much was filmed or what became of this film.

Similarly, director Urban Lasson has said that the only songs filmed at Wembley in November 1979 for ABBA In Concert were the songs required for the one-hour television special (and portions of ‘Thank You For The Music’, pieced together for the ABBA In Concert DVD), and no other film exists.

Concerts prior to 1977 were not filmed or recorded, as film and audio recording tape were expensive, and with no plans to release live recordings then it would have been considered unnecessary and a wasteful expense.

Where can I buy official ABBA merchandise?

You can buy a range of official merchandise from ABBA | The official site, ABBA Voyage merch store, and ABBA The Museum. There are also a number of official ABBA stores in various countries. The ABBA Fan Club Shop has other merchandise available, and The Second Hand ABBA Store has many vintage collectibles.

Why won’t ABBA or Universal Music release more ABBA songs from the vaults?

ABBA, particularly Benny and Björn as the songwriters and producers, are reluctant to release unissued songs, feeling that if they weren’t good enough to release at the time, they’re still not good enough now. They did relent in 1993 to allow the inclusion of ‘I Am The City’ on More ABBA Gold – More ABBA Hits, and in 1994 when several songs were released for the first time, some in full, but many in truncated form in the ‘ABBA Undeleted’ medley on the Thank You For The Music box set. In 2012 another medley of unreleased recordings was released, ‘From A Twinking Star To A Passing Angel’ on The Visitors Deluxe Edition, featuring several different versions of ‘Like An Angel Passing Through My Room’. In 2021 the 1978 song ‘Just A Notion’ was released on the Voyage album, with the original 1978 vocals and a brand-new musical backing.

Why won’t ABBA release their recording of ‘Just Like That’?

Björn and Benny have stated that they feel that the Gemini version, recorded for that duo’s self-titled album in 1985, is the final version of the song with that title, and they can’t have two similar but different songs with the same title. Despite many excuses given, the most compelling is the simple fact that they don’t want to release it. Benny has admitted “[It] was a song we did record, but we never liked what we had done, so it remained unreleased.”

Almost all of the components of ABBA’s version of ‘Just Like That’ have seen the light of day in other songs: a guitar riff from an early mix became part of the verse melody of ‘Under Attack’; most of the chorus was used in the Gemini version; and the original verse was used in ‘Glöm mig om du kan’ in the 2002 Swedish production of Benny and Björn’s musical Chess.

What will it take for an ABBA reunion?

In November 2021, ABBA released their ninth album Voyage. This came about as a consequence of a new project first announced in 2016, where virtual avatars of ABBA (dubbed “ABBAtars” by fans and media) perform on stage with a live band, with pre-recorded vocals from ABBA’s existing live and studio recordings. It has been announced that Voyage is the final ABBA release.

The ABBA Voyage concert opened in London in May 2022. At the premiere Agnetha, Frida, Benny, and Björn arrived together in a London black cab, posed together on the red carpet, and were interviewed together and separately. At the end of the concert the four took to the stage, acknowledging the audience. Agnetha and Frida were particularly moved by the ovation.

Prior to that, the four have had several impromptu performances together over the decades, usually for private purposes, ranging from singing ‘Tivedshambo’ for a Stig Anderson television tribute in 1986, to singing for their friend and business associate Görel Hanser for her 50th birthday in June 1999.

Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Björn appeared together at the Stockholm premiere of the film Mamma Mia! in July 2008, and were photographed with the film’s major cast and creative team. Benny, Frida and Björn were photographed together for ABBA – The Official Photo Book in May 2013, a day after the offiical opening of ABBA The Musuem – had Agnetha not been in London promoting her solo album A, she might have joined them.

Björn, Frida, Agnetha, and Benny all attended the opening of Mamma Mia! The Party at Gröna Lund in Stockholm in January 2016, briefly standing together on a small stage, posing and waving for guests in attendance. In June the same year, at a party celebrating the 50th anniversary of Björn and Benny’s first meeting, Frida and Agnetha took to the stage to sing ‘The Way Old Friends Do’ in tribute, and following the song the two men joined them onstage to thank them for the moving performance.

Will ABBA release the two additional songs recorded for Voyage?

In early promotional for the Voyage project, Benny and Björn talked about two songs recorded for the album that were shelved, because Frida and Agnetha were not satisfied with them. In December 2024, the Official Internationa ABBA Fan Club Magazine published a report from a fan who had recently met with Benny in Stockholm. Benny clearly said that there will be no deluxe version of Voyage with bonus unreleased tracks, nor will the legendary Just Like That’ be released.

One title is reported to be ‘Hit By A Train’, the other is rumoured to be titled ‘My Story Ends With You’.

When will new songs be added to the ABBA Voyage concert?

At the third anniversary ABBA Voyage concert on 27 May 2025, several changes were made to the setlist:

• ‘Super Trouper’ was inserted between ‘Fernando’ and ‘Mamma Mia’. ‘Take A Chance On Me’ will replace ‘Super Trouper’ in some performances
• ‘The Name Of The Game’ replaced ‘When All Is Said And Done’
• ‘Money, Money, Money’ was inserted between ‘Waterloo’ and ‘Thank You For The Music’

It has been reported that “five or six” additional songs were filmed during the motion capture sessions for potential inclusion in the concert.

You can find the complete original and new setlists here.

Are ABBA records without the backwards B logo rare and valuable?

No. The ABBA logo with the first B reversed was introduced in July 1976, and first officially appeared on the ‘Dancing Queen’ single sleeve released in August (it had already appeared on a French compilation album released weeks earlier). All records released before that, and even some after, had ABBA written normally.

There is one exception: the Australian ‘Dancing Queen‘ single sleeve, which appeared with both the ABBA logo and ABBA written normally. However, the sleeve with ABBA written normally is not all that rare or valuable – rumours that there are only three copies worth hundreds or thousands of dollars are false.

Where can I find lyrics to ABBA’s songs?

You can find ABBA lyrics on many ABBA websites, though many of them have some incorrect words due to the songs being transcribed by listeners. Lyrics to all of ABBA’s released songs can be found on ABBA | The official site.

Where can I download ABBA songs?

You can purchase ABBA songs from iTunes, Google Play, or listen on subscriber services Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, amazon music, deezer, Tidal, Napster, Soundcloud, Сбер Звук.

How much are ABBA autographs worth?

A: That’s hard to say. With the advent of ebay and other online auction sites, the price of autographs has increased. These days a full set might set you back around US$1,000, individual autographs can sell for US$300 or more.

There are also examples of autographs signed by staff in the Polar Music office during the late 70s, as ABBA were too busy to meet demand. Though not as valuable as genuine autographs, these have become quite collectable in their own right.

Beware that there are more forged autographs available these days than genuine ones. A Certificate of Authenticity is no guarantee that autographs are authentic – often that can be seen as a sign that the autographs are fake. They seem only to confirm that the signatures were made by a person, not by autopen or printed.

Here are examples of ABBA’s autographs, circa 1976 (published in an ABBA music book) and 2013 (published in ABBA – The Official Photo Book):

I have a rare memorabilia item I’d like to sell to a deserving fan, where can I advertise it?

Auction site ebay is easily the most popular site for selling memorabilia. Swedish site Tradera also has a lot of ABBA items. ABBA Trading Post is a popular Facebook group for fans to trade items.

How much is this piece of memorabilia worth?

It’s hard to say what any particular piece of merchandise may be worth. There is no real price guide for ABBA memorabilia, and prices fluctuate with supply and demand. Generally, an item is worth whatever someone will pay. I suggest check ebay, Tradera or other auction sites or the Facebook group ABBA Trading Post or website The Second Hand ABBA Store to get an idea of what your item might be worth. Discogs can be a good guide for the value of LPs, singles, and CDs.

What’s the story about the unreleased album Opus 10?

There was no planned ABBA album titled Opus 10. There is a long complex story behind this mythical unreleased album.

In mid-1981, a journalist from Swedish newspaper Expressen visited ABBA in the studio during sessions for what would become The Visitors album, titling the subsequent story “Now ABBA are recording their tenth album”. His reasoning being it was the tenth ABBA album since the first in 1973, with seven studio albums plus the two greatest hits volumes (but excluding the collection of Spanish recordings Gracias Por La Musica). In the article he asked “And will ‘Opus 10’ now beat them all?”

Over the years the myth grew. At first “Opus 10” was rumoured to have been a working title for The Visitors, which would have had an instrumental title track – the demo recording known as ‘Nationalsång’, which has surfaced on bootleg tapes and CDs (I first heard this rumour in 1983). Later “Opus 10” became the alleged title of the unfinished 1982 album. Due to repetition and publication of this “fact” in several sources it has become “truth”. It was even referred to in Agnetha’s authorised biographical book As I Am as “the cancelled ABBA album”.

Will Agnetha record again?

Agnetha released a new single, ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ on 31 August 2023, followed on 13 October by A+, a reimagined version of here 2013 album A. There is no news of any further recording plans.

Will Frida record again?

In 2016 Frida recorded a version of ABBA’s ‘Andante, Andante‘ with Cuban-American jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, released on his album Ultimate Duets on 18 May 2018 (the track was available for download and streaming on 27 April 2018). The year before she recorded a new song ‘1865‘ with her Swiss friend Dan Daniell, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the first successful assent of the Matterhorn, near their hometown Zermatt, which was released on 13 February 2015. There is no news of any further recording plans.

When will Benny and Björn’s musical Kristina från Duvemåla be staged in English?

Kristina made its English-language debut in concert form at Carnegie Hall in New York in September 2009. That concert was recorded and has since been released on CD. The same concert was performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April 2010. It seems that in the era of light-hearted jukebox musicals like Mamma Mia!, or modern musicals using hip-hop and popular music styles like Hamilton, producers aren’t interested in a four-hour epic about Swedish immigrants.

Will Benny and Björn write a new musical?

Benny wrote music and Björn the lyrics for a musical play, Hjälp sökes (Help wanted) which premiered in Stockholm in February 2013. A cast recording CD was released in April 2014.
In July 2022 a new show, Pippi på Cirkus (Pippi [Longstoking] at the Circus), opened in Stockholm, with lyrics by Björn and music written by others, including four songs by Benny, two of which are brand new and two previously released as instrumentals by Benny Anderssons orkester: ‘Veva veva positiv’, ‘Pippi på Cirkus’ (BAO’s ‘Cirkus Finemang’), ‘Pippilotta Långstrump’, and ‘Jag känner mig hemma här’ (‘Glasgow Boogie’). The music from the show is available digitally, but no CD has been released.