Gold: Greatest Hits


ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released on 21 September 1992 through PolyGram and released in 2008 through Universal Music Australia, making it the first compilation to be released after the company had acquired Polar Music, and thus the rights to the ABBA back catalogue.
With sales of 30 million, Gold is the best-selling ABBA album, as well as the 23rd best-selling album worldwide. Since 1992, it has been re-released several times, most notably in 1999 as the first remastered reissue to mark the group's 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, in 2008 to coincide with the release of the film Mamma Mia! and most recently in 2014 to mark the group's 40th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest.

Overview

Prior to its release, all previously released ABBA compilations had been deleted and only the original studio albums remained in print. Gold: Greatest Hits was well received by the music-buying public, and went on to be one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Gold: Greatest Hits has been re-released in various "special" or "remastered" releases:
YearEditionNotes
1992Original releaseThe original 1992 release included an edited version of "Voulez-Vous" and the US Promo Edit of "The Name of the Game".
1999Remastered reissueCelebrating ABBA's 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo", includes the original versions of "Voulez-Vous" and "The Name of the Game". This new version was called the "signature series", as it came with autographs from the band members embedded into the front plastic casing in gold writing. This edition also contains new sleeve notes and is digitally remastered in 24 bit from the original multitracks.
200210th Anniversary EditionContained a revised booklet and updated liner notes. The ABBA logo was changed to the official ABBA font and the back cover was redesigned. It was released in Europe and New Zealand. This version was not released in Australia.
2008Second remastered editionCoinciding with the release of the film Mamma Mia!, in a so-called super jewel case, with updated liner notes and with remastered sound. The Australasian release featured the European track list, not the Australasian track list on previous issues. This version was issued in the US in 2010, although it does not come in a super jewel case, but instead a regular jewel case.
2010Special EditionIncluded two discs: the original CD, and a DVD of the video clips, remastered in 2010. The DVD also included five bonus clips.
201440th Anniversary EditionA 3 CD edition that includes the original album, the album and the "Golden B-sides", containing 20 B-sides.

Regional variations and tie-ins

Australasian editions

The 1992 and 1999 editions released in Australia and New Zealand had a modified track listing to include three local hits, replacing three other songs on the international edition.
The 2002 re-release was not released in Australia, while in New Zealand, the international edition was issued.
From 2008 onwards, only the international editions have been released in Australia and New Zealand.

Spanish versions

The original 1992 release had a slightly different track listing, replacing the English versions of "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" with the Spanish language versions.
Shortly after the release of Gold: Greatest Hits, a Spanish version of the album, titled was issued, followed later by Mas Oro: Mas Grandes Exitos.

Video and DVD

In 1992 a VHS video was released which included all tracks from the original album. During the 1990s, various regional variations on this video were issued, until Universal Music decided in 2003 to re-issue the video on VHS and DVD. The track listing was similar to the original album, with some added content: a 25-minute documentary produced in 1999, and the 1992 video of "Dancing Queen".
In 2010, the DVD was remastered with six bonus clips, including five "split-screen" versions of the clips to show which improvements were made by remastering the old videos. These "split-screen" clips were "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen", "The Winner Takes It All" and "Money, Money, Money". The sixth bonus clip was an Australian cartoon version of "Money, Money, Money". The 2010 edition did not include the 2003 ABBA documentary or the 1992 version of "Dancing Queen". This disc was available as a stand-alone DVD and as part of the 2010 'Special Edition' re-release.

Other variations

In 2002, Gold: Greatest Hits was released in mainland Europe with a bonus second disc. This included the following tracks:
The UK saw a 30th Anniversary Edition released in 2004 with a gold-coloured sleeve cover with black writing, rather than the normal black sleeve with gold writing. The original release included a DVD with 18 of the 19 songs from the CD, excluding "The Name of the Game". It is also available without the DVD.

Commercial performance

With sales of 5.5 million copies, Gold: Greatest Hits is the second-highest selling album of all time in the United Kingdom, after Queen's Greatest Hits. In August, 2019, Gold: Greatest Hits became the longest-running top 100 album of all time, spending 900 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. The album spent 62 weeks in the top 10 and topped the British chart seven times, most recently for two weeks in 2008 following release of the motion picture Mamma Mia!.
In the United States, the album has sold a total of 5.8 million copies and is the nineteenth biggest-selling greatest-hits album in the Nielsen Music era. In Canada, Gold: Greatest Hits achieved Diamond status in May, 2000.
In Germany, Gold: Greatest Hits has been certified five times Platinum for shipment of 2.5 million units. It has also been certified 10 times Platinum in Switzerland for sales of 500,000 units. In Austria, the album charted for 397 weeks, making it the all-time 2nd longest stay on the chart. After reaching catalogue status, it returned to the top 10 three times, twice in the wake of the releases of Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and once due to the release of a special edition.
In Sweden the album is listed as the sixth best-charting album as of October 2016. In Austria, the album is the fourth best selling album of all time. In Australia, the album is the third or fourth best selling album of all time.

Critical reception

Gold: Greatest Hits has been called one of the most influential compilation albums ever released. Music critic Elisabeth Vincentelli credits the album for a revival of critical interest in ABBA's music after ten years of neglect following the band's 1982 break-up.
Writing for Pitchfork in 2019, reviewer Jamieson Cox agreed, describing Gold: Greatest Hits as a "refined package with surprising emotional range". The album, he wrote, "capitalized on a simmering, subcultural interest in ABBA’s work and sparked a full-blown revival" that culminated in the Mamma Mia! stage and film productions.
BuzzFeed music editor Matthew Perpetua included Gold: Greatest Hits among the compilations he considered "so well curated in presenting a fertile period of a career that they are arguably an artist's definitive work".
Former Rolling Stone magazine writer Tom Moon included Gold: Greatest Hits among his 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, describing the tracks as "models of impeccable craft", adding that the album is "an excellent starter kit for those wanting to investigate the DNA of post-Beatles pop."
Writing for Vanity Fair, singer-songwriter Elvis Costello included Gold: Greatest Hits among his list of 500 essential albums.

Track listings

Gold: Greatest Hits includes "Lay All Your Love on Me", which was a Top 10 hit only in the UK and Ireland, and "Thank You for the Music", which only had a limited release as a single. Only the Australasian release of the album included "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do", which was a successful global hit for ABBA. It does not feature "Summer Night City", which was a bigger hit globally than "Voulez-Vous", which was included.

Worldwide edition (excluding Australian until 2008)

All songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, except where noted.

Australian version (until 2008)

All songs written by Andersson and Ulvaeus, except where noted.

2014 40th Anniversary Edition

Disc 1:
Disc 2: Same as on '
Disc 3: The Golden B-sides'''

Personnel

Production

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums 12
Dutch Albums 20
European Albums 26
German Albums 32
New Zealand Albums 49
Swiss Albums 39
UK Albums 12

Chart Position
Australian Albums 95
Austrian Albums 6
Canada Top Albums/CDs 35
Dutch Albums 4
European Albums 13
German Albums 9
Swiss Albums 5
UK Albums 36

Chart Position
Australian Albums 9

Chart Position
Australian Albums 45
New Zealand Albums 15

Chart Position
UK Albums 89

Chart Position
UK Albums 100

Chart Position
UK Albums 55

Chart Position
Australian Albums
25th anniversary edition		8
Belgian Albums 33
Belgian Albums 38
European Albums 10
UK Albums 4

Chart Position
UK Albums 41

Chart Position
UK Albums 148

Chart Position
UK Albums 193

Chart Position
UK Albums 47

Chart Position
UK Albums 118

Chart Position
UK Albums 194

Chart Position
UK Albums 166

Chart Position
Australian Albums 39
Austrian Albums 62
Dutch Albums 94
European Albums 42
Hungarian Albums 66
New Zealand Albums 46
Swedish Albums 93
Swiss Albums 66
UK Albums 19
US Top Catalog Albums 23

Chart Position
European Albums 80
Swiss Albums 71
UK Albums 54
US Top Catalog Albums 8

Chart Position
UK Albums 90
US Top Catalog Albums 20

Chart Position
UK Albums 130

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 47
UK Albums 140

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 64
Swedish Albums 34
UK Albums 119

Chart Position
Australian Albums 88
Austrian Albums 11
Danish Albums 17
German Albums 47
New Zealand Albums 46
Swedish Albums 48
Swiss Albums 24

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 39
Danish Albums 96
Swedish Albums 56
Swiss Albums 67
UK Albums 79

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 55
Swiss Albums 82
Swedish Albums 64
UK Albums 72

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 47
UK Albums 77

Chart Position
Australian Albums 60
Austrian Albums 15
Irish Albums 12
Swiss Albums 40
UK Albums 20

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 50
Belgian Albums 63
Belgian Albums 175
Irish Albums 22
Polish Albums 52
Swiss Albums 58
UK Albums 32

Decade-end charts

Certifications and sales