Abba’s 1976 record Arrival is the band’s best-selling studio album in the UK to date.
The album includes some of their biggest hits, including Dancing Queen, Knowing Me Knowing You and Money, Money, Money, although Abba star Bjorn Ulvaeus has said he was surprised to learn it is their number one album in the UK.
The Swedish pop group’s best-selling albums were revealed on BBC Radio 2 on the programme Let’s Abba Party, ranking the success of their eight albums, from Waterloo to The Visitors.
Their popular compilation album Abba Gold was not included in the countdown.
We have Arrived to Twitter!🚁 #Arrival #ABBA pic.twitter.com/Lmn9dXCGJS
— ABBA (@ABBA) November 28, 2018
Arrival came out on top according to the Official Charts Company, followed by Super Trouper (1980) in second place and Abba: The Album (1977) in third.
Ulvaeus told the programme: “I have to say when I learned that Arrival was the best-selling Abba album – apart from Abba Gold of course – I was quite surprised. I didn’t think it would be that one.
“But on the other hand it is the first complete album we did, I think, after winning Eurovision. We suddenly had complete artistic freedom. And on Arrival, as with the albums that came after, every single song was written for that particular album…
“The Arrival album is definitely one of the best. The sleeve is photographed in an airfield very close to Stockholm. I don’t know if we ever took off in that helicopter or not!”
The group have, in total, sold in excess of 400 million albums and singles since they rose to fame in the mid-1970s.
Following Arrival, Super Trouper and Abba: The Album, Voulez Vous (1979) is in fourth place and The Visitors (1981) – their last album – is in fifth.
Today in 1973, Ring Ring, the first album by all four ABBA members is released, although the name "ABBA" has not yet been adopted by the group and the album is released under the cumbersome artist name of "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida". ✨#ABBA pic.twitter.com/BgmXkd1uh8
— ABBA (@ABBA) March 26, 2019
The album Abba (1975) is in sixth place and Waterloo (1974) is in seventh place.
Their debut album Ring Ring is their lowest-selling album in the UK. It was released in 1973, before they won the Eurovision Song Contest the following year.
Martin Talbot, CEO, Official Charts Company, said: “Abba has enjoyed a phenomenal history on the UK’s Official Charts. Their appeal has lasted well beyond the early 1980s with new generations continually discovering their timeless pop songs.
“Arrival was a pivotal moment in their illustrious career hitting the number one spot on the Official Albums Chart and spending a massive 93 weeks on the chart.
“They are one of the most successful acts on the Official Charts of all-time.”
Earlier this year, Ulvaeus – who was in the band along with Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad – said that fans can expect a new song from the group later this year ahead of a hologram tour.