ABBA

ABBA reunite to launch incredible virtual concert

Agnetha, Frida, Benny and Bjorn reunited for the opening night of the concert, which features digital versions of the band.

Frida watched the show with a wide grin across her face, while Benny stood up and clapped along to Dancing Queen.

They took a curtain call at the end, to deafening applause from the audience.

"Abba has never left us, in my heart," singer Agnetha Faltskog told the BBC on the red carpet.

"It was not such a difficult decision [to reunite] because the music is part of us."

Abba: Band top charts with first album for 40 years

The Swedish band's long-awaited Voyage - their first album of new material for 40 years - shot straight to number one, earning them the biggest opening week of sales for any album in four years.

Its 204,000 first-week chart sales is the highest since Ed Sheeran's Divide.

Abba's last studio album, 1981's The Visitors, also topped the chart.

The former Eurovision winners have since hit number one with their greatest hits collections, The Singles and Gold.

ABBA announces first new album in 40 years

Fans piled online to celebrate the long-awaited news of the reunion of one of the world's most successful bands. "2021 has been saved by new ABBA music," @elliemiles23 said in one widely shared Twitter post.

The album "Voyage" would come out on 5 November, the band said during the livestreamed launch. They released two of its 10 songs - "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down" - on Thursday.

Band teases major announcement ahead of new music

The Swedish band launched a new website on Thursday morning titled "Abba Voyage", asking fans to register interest in a new project.

It is expected to be a long-gestating "hologram tour" that Abba initially announced in 2016.

The band are also expected to release five new songs to accompany the show.

The quartet - Agnetha Faltskog, Anna-Frid Lyngstad, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson - returned to the studio in 2018, promising two new songs later that year.

Abba Gold reaches record-breaking 1,000 weeks in UK album chart

Released in 1992, the record is the second biggest-seller of all time in the UK with sales of 5.61 million, only behind Queen's Greatest Hits.

Featuring the Swedish band's biggest songs Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia and Waterloo, it has now spent a total of 19 years and 12 weeks in the top 100.

"Not bad for four old turnips," joked Benny Andersson on hearing the news.

Abba Gold has spent eight weeks at number one over the years, and is currently at number 17.

Abba's Waterloo voted best song of all time

Eurovision: Come Together saw the public vote for their favourites, on the night that this year's song contest was due to take place.

The 2020 competition was cancelled in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Swedish foursome won it in 1974 in Brighton. The track, which topped the UK charts and set them on their way to fame, went on to sell nearly 6m copies.

Speaking later on the night, Bjorn Ulvaeus from the band said he found it "hard to believe" that was where it began for them all those years ago.

Swedish superstars ABBA to release new song later this year

Ulvaeus told Denmark's Ekstra Bladet tabloid on Wednesday that "it takes an extremely long time'' to make the video for the song with the avatars of the group members, adding "it has been delayed for too long.''

The band earlier said Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog reunited to plan a virtual tour featuring digital avatars.

One of two planned new songs is entitled "I Still Have Faith in You''.

It's not yet clear if that's the song that will come out later this year.

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