It’s no an exaggeration to call ABBA one of the most iconic pop groups of all time. First bursting onto the Eurovision stage with their stone-cold banger Waterloo fifty years ago on April 6, they went onto win the song contest hands-down, and forged a decade-long career at the top of the charts.
Since originally disbanding in 1982 amid multiple romantic break-ups within the group’s ranks, they’ve since reunited for a new album, 2021’s Voyage, and went digital with ABBA Voyage – which treats audiences to a performance of the band in their prime, rendered 3D with clever technology (the closest you’ll ever get to seeing them live, so get tickets here).
The Swedish group have sold 150 million records worldwide, and even inspired a musical (the ever-popular Mamma Mia).
Now, with Eurovision on the horizon once more, what better time to rank their top songs? Though Waterloo didn’t quite make it onto this list (ABBA have so many hit songs, we had to be brutal about which ones made the cut), there’s still plenty to celebrate.
From the melancholic Name of the Game to the disco strut of Dancing Queen, here’s our definitive ranking of which tunes rocked the hardest. Purely subjective, of course.
10. The Name of the Game (1977)
Most of ABBA’s best-known songs are disco masterpieces, but Name of the Game proved that they could do subtlety just as well as they could over-the-top bombast. This song marked the band’s sixth No. 1 single in the UK and cemented their position as stadium-filling sensations. Written from the point of a young woman struggling with her feelings for a love interest, it’s jam-packed with a veritable army of instruments (including flugelhorns, a choir and a church organ, of all things) and when Agnetha and Anni-Frid hit the chorus, the song really soars.
9. One Of Us (1981)
Talk about a messy break-up: try singing a song written for you by your ex of all people, with cutting lyrics about lying “in a lonely bed”, wishing you’d never left at all. This extravagantly sad ballad overstates the point somewhat, but it’s hard to argue with the lullaby-like quality of Agnetha’s voice, and the way it captures the dazed sorrow of a broken relationship. Not one for the faint of heart.
8. Fernando (1976)
Say the words ‘Fernando’ to anybody and chances are it’ll conjure up an image of Cher crooning the words in Mamma Mia 2. But this song is one of ABBA’s biggest-selling numbers for a reason: the relentlessly catchy chant that makes up the chorus and the bizarre subject matter (two war veterans chewing the fat about the 1910 Mexican revolution) not to mention all the chat about the stars being bright. It’s all strangely compelling.
7. Knowing Me, Knowing You (1976)
This melancholic ode to a dying relationship remains one of the most poignant heartbreak anthems that the band has ever produced. Written in 1976, it combines tragedy with layer upon layer of gorgeous harmonies, oscillating from muted silence to the huge “ah-haaaa” chorus that sends shivers down the spine. Break-ups, ABBA-style – and any similarities to Alan Partridge are entirely coincidental, of course.
6. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) (1979)
ABBA were no stranger to a bit of sexual tension (see Does Your Mother Know and When I Kissed the Teacher as evidence) but this song is about as frank as they’ve ever been about desire, following a lonely woman longing for a risqué encounter.
From the minute the pulsating synths kick in at the start and lyrics start – “Autumn winds/ Blowing outside the window as I look around the room/ And it makes me so depressed to see the gloom” – it’s like the start of a gothic novel. No wonder Madonna asked to borrow the riff for her 2005 track Hung Up.
5. Voulez-Vous (1979)
Recorded during the band’s peak years in 1979, this song features some of the very best of ABBA’s songwriting chops – while at the same time treading little new ground. Leaning heavily on funk and disco influences, the lyrics, which tell the story of people looking for a hookup on a night out, are blatantly cynical (“nothing promised, no regrets”). Then again, the driving beat and rhythmic melody make this song a proper foot-stomper – plus, who could argue with those blaring horns that dominate the chorus.
4. SOS (1975)
SOS was by no means ABBA’s first hit, but it was the one that crystallised their sound, and sent them stratospheric. Ten seconds of listening makes it clear why: the song is simple, the lyrics easy to sing and the storytelling (veering between despair and pleading) sublime. The way that the song builds from slow, plodding synths of the verses to explode at the chorus have yet to be matched, and despite the lyrical doom and gloom, it still gets stuck in your head. Top marks.
3. Mamma Mia (1975)
The song that was so big it spawned a musical and two spin-off films. And it’s easy to see why. Try to avoid tapping your toe along to that infectious opening beat: flanger-riddled synths layered up with the wailing guitar riffs that make the song instantly identifiable. With Benny vamping on the keyboard and Agnetha and Anni-Frid packing on the melodrama, its theme of falling back in love with a no-good ex is all too relatable.
Surprisingly, the song didn’t take off when it was released – too Europop for American audiences, it only just made it into the top 40 – but Mamma Mia has stood the test of time and become one of ABBA’s most beloved numbers.
2. The Winner Takes It All (1980)
Another classic ABBA weepie. Recorded in 1980, when the band’s marriages were falling apart, The Winner Takes It All has it all: piano crescendos, wailing vocals and a surprisingly up-tempo beat. Agnetha later called this song her favourite from the ABBA years – “singing it was like acting a part”, she said – and is it any wonder it still has such emotional resonance forty years later?
1. Dancing Queen (1976)
Was it ever in doubt? This fun-filled tribute to a youthful night out remains one of the best disco tunes ever created. Bursting at the seams with synths and boasting an instantly-identifiable piano intro, the song is pure joy (just listen to the way Agnetha and Anni-Frid’s voices lift for the iconic ‘tambourine’ line). It’s also one of the few guaranteed to fill up a dancefloor for people of all ages.
"It's often difficult to know what will be a hit,” Agnetha said afterwards. “The exception was Dancing Queen. We all knew it was going to be massive." And massive it still is.
