ABBA

By: MaryLynn McSorley

ABBA was mostly popular in the 70s but you can see many of their more prominent songs on social media today. These include Money, Money, Money,  Slipping Through My Fingers, and Angeleyes. ABBA has four members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, other than Lyngstad the entire group is Swedish (she was originally born in Norway). ABBA is an acronym using the first letter of each of their names. The original name was Festfolk, meaning “party people” in Swedish.

In Australia, ABBA reached massive heights of popularity. In 1976 during a special program made specifically for Australia, the production got more views by Australians than the moon landing did. ABBA has sold over 400 million albums worldwide while only having 98 songs. The band played their first show in 1972, and following the divorce of both couples, (Fältskog and Ulvaeus in 1980, and Andersson and Lyngstad in 1981) the group split up, they made a final performance in 1982 but never publicly announced the break up of the band. In 2021, after 40 years, they released their 9th album, Voyage. ABBA has gone through some significant ups and downs throughout the almost 60 years that this band has been making music, but the emotion in each song created is enough to keep the community of fans thriving.