ABBA was a Swedish pop group consisting of Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Ann-Frid Lyngstad. The group name is an acronym, formed from the first letters of each member’s first names.

The group formed in 1972 and released their solo album Ring Ring in Sweden the following year, along with the single Nina, Pretty Ballerina. The group won the chance to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, and their single Waterloo subsequently became a number one hit in the UK, Germany and Australia, as well as reaching the Top 10 in America.

In 1975 they were back in the UK charts with singles I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do and SOS, and hit the number one spot again with Mamma Mia in January 1976. Then came the smash hit Fernando, which reached number one in thirteen countries and went on to sell over ten million copies worldwide.

Their fourth album Arrival in 1976 included the hits Money Money Money, Knowing Me Knowing You and Dancing Queen – which gave the group their first US number one. 1977’s The Album followed, with more smash hits like Take a Chance on Me, The Name of the Game and Thank You for the Music.

By the end of the 1970s ABBA were pop music megastars, and it was hard to see how the group could get any bigger. And yet, somehow, they managed it.

Their 1979 album Voulez-Vous sold more than 400,000 copies in the UK during its first week of its release and included the singles Voulez-Vous, Chiquitita, Does Your Mother Know and Angeleyes, while 1980 album Super Trouper propelled the group into the stratosphere with hits like The Winner Takes It All and Super Trouper. They even managed to find time to squeeze in the non-album hit single Gimme Gimme Gimme.

ABBA’s last performance came in 1982, one decade and 300 million record sales after their formation. Although they haven’t released an album for thirty years, ABBA still sell two to three million records a year and, as of 2010, are the fourth biggest-selling artists of all time after The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson.