ABBA — From Ring Ring to Voyage, Every Studio Album

ABBA formed in Stockholm in 1972. The name comes from the first letters of the four members: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. At their peak the group was two married couples, and Andersson and Ulvaeus wrote the songs.

In 1974 they won the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton for Sweden with Waterloo. In 2005, at the contest's 50th anniversary, it was chosen as the best song in Eurovision history. ABBA disbanded in December 1982, and the four did not record new songs together again until 2018.

ABBA are one of the best-selling music acts of all time, with sales of more than 150 million records, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Their songs became the stage musical Mamma Mia! in 1999 and later two films.

Ring Ring, their first album, came out in 1973, after the title song came third in the Swedish selection for Eurovision. Waterloo followed in 1974, after the contest win. ABBA, the third album, came out in 1975 with SOS and Mamma Mia, and Mamma Mia went to number one in the UK, Germany and Australia.

Arrival in 1976 was the breakthrough. Its first single, Dancing Queen, went to number one in the UK, Sweden and Australia, and became their only number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Knowing Me, Knowing You and Money, Money, Money came from the same record.

The Album in 1977 brought Take a Chance on Me and The Name of the Game, and Voulez-Vous in 1979 went toward disco with the title song, Chiquitita and Does Your Mother Know.

Fernando, Summer Night City and Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!

(A Man After Midnight) were released as singles outside the studio albums, so they are in the Greatest Hits playlist on this page. Super Trouper in November 1980 added more synthesizers and more personal lyrics. The Winner Takes It All and Super Trouper both reached number one in the UK.

The Visitors in 1981 was their eighth album and the last for forty years.

Voyage came out on November 5, 2021, their first album of new material since The Visitors. Its ten songs were written by Andersson and Ulvaeus, and the album entered the UK chart at number one. I Still Have Faith in You was ABBA's first Grammy nomination, and Voyage was later nominated for Album of the Year.

What sets ABBA apart is how much work went into a three-minute pop song. The harmonies are stacked, the piano and strings are arranged like a small orchestra, and the choruses arrive exactly when you want them. Dancing Queen and The Winner Takes It All sound simple, and that took a lot of effort.

The songs also grew up with the band. The early records are about love at first sight, while The Winner Takes It All, One of Us and When All Is Said and Done deal with separation. Play the 92 songs in order and you hear a party band from 1973 turn into songwriters who could make a sad song you can still dance to.