Sales of The Singles - The First Ten Years in the UK

  I study UK Album Sales very carefully.

 I'd say that 'The Singles - The First Ten Years' sold around 650,000 in the UK.

 It had around 250,000 UK Advance Orders when it came out.

 Although it was only No.1 for 1 Week, in the British Market Research Bureau Chart, (BMRB - Official UK Chart),
 it was No.1 for 3 Weeks, in both the 'New Musical Express' Chart and the 'Melody Maker' Chart. Both of which
 used different Shops, to compile the Charts, than BMRB - and different Shops to each other...

 NOTE -- If you count published 'Melody Maker' Charts, 'The Singles' was No.1 for 3 Weeks in that Chart. However, 
 they missed out the Chart of W/E 1st January 1983, as they were on Holiday. If you count that Chart, then the 
 ABBA Album was No.1 for 4 Weeks. The longer 'Run's', at No.1, in 'Melody Maker' and 'New Musical Express', 
 were an improvement on its 1 No.1 Week in BMRB - The Official UK Charts, at that time. This can be seen to
 be the 'counter-balance', to what happened with 'The Visitors', a Year earlier. That spent 3 Weeks at No.1 in
 BMRB, but only 1 Week at No.1 in 'New Musical Express', and in 'Melody Maker' it stalled at No.2.

'The Singles' did well to sell 650,000, as the UK had already bought a lot of the 23 Tracks on Singles Disk, and on Studio 
 Albums. Plus big Sales of many of the Tracks on 'Greatest Hits', (1976), which had around 2,600,000 UK Sales, and
'Greatest Hits Vol. 2', (1979), which had 1,200,000 UK Sales...

^^ I’ve got CD versions of all three. In 2006, they re-released the 1976 Norwegian reissue of Greatest Hits on “mini-vinyl” CD. It used the Scandinavian cartoon artwork and had Fernando at the start of the album. I’ve also got a US Atlantic CD issue. Slightly different running order and excludes Hasta Mañana, but the park bench artwork is intact (the black panel on the right-hand side of the front sleeve artwork does not include track titles, but otherwise apes the vinyl sleeve).

That’s the problem with the first Greatest Hits, there are so many different versions of it (plus the two different “Best of” compilations issued around the same time to certain markets). Greatest Hits Vol 2 and The Singles would be easier to re-issue as there is generally just the one version of each.

^^ It was only the 1980s CD issue that didn’t include the track titles on the front. The original vinyl issues in the US had the full Side 1/Side 2 tracklisting on the front, similar to the original UK issue before it was altered.

Until just now, I had no idea that the two “Best of” compilations have the same running order. The German Polydor one would have won out, because it uses an alternate photo of ABBA in their Waterloo costumes, but sadly the artwork is otherwise hideous (as it often was on West German single releases). The Australia/NZ RCA version has those odd photos of ABBA in more period clothes, but the artwork is otherwise nicer.

Both Best of’s initially had 12 tracks - no Another Town, Another Train or He Is Your Brother - though Fernando was added to the Polydor one as the opening track. In the countries these compilations were released in, the Ring Ring album had been issued. The two main markets of the official Greatest Hits album - the UK and US - did not get the Ring Ring album in the 1970s, so those two additional tracks were welcome. Fernando never appeared on Australia/NZ’s version, but it was added to Arrival instead.

^^ They also left out Honey Honey and Eagle, and also the “unofficial” single (ie. not released as such by Polar) Lay All Your Love On Me. Constraints of vinyl meant they had to leave some out or risk not getting a decent cut.

The Singles was only UK number one for a week, I think, which pales against all of their other UK number one albums. Still, not bad. Greatest hits albums aren’t necessarily big sellers, it all depends on how popular the act is at the time.

Yes, the Singles was number one for only one week but as far as I know it cost the double of what a studio album did. It managed to sell 600, 000 copies in the Uk despite being so expensive so it does not pale in comparison against their other number one albums really. 

Not necessarily double the price. I managed to find one on eBay that appeared to have an original price on it in the photo, and it showed £5.49. That might have been a later price though, not a new release one. Mine was a birthday present so no price label on.

How much did an album / cassette cost in the UK in 82 ?

Adam, I think your tracklisting for a revised and expanded edition of " ABBA The Singles " is brilliant and one I would love to own.

An expanded version of The Singles has already been done three times. First as the first three discs of the Thank You For The Music set in 1994, secondly as The Definitive Collection in 2001, and later as The Essential Collection.

Your list is flawed for several reasons. Firstly, I’ve done a playlist of both of those lists. The first is fine as it comes to 1 hour 15 minutes. The second, however, comes to 1 hour 34 minutes so is about 15 minutes too long for a CD (which is maximum of about 79 minutes).

Secondly, the last four tracks were not singles so shouldn’t be included on an album called “The Singles” which is meant to be just that. Removing those four would also reduce the playing time to 1 hour 16 minutes, sufficient for one CD.

Thirdly, Just Like That is pure fantasy as it hasn’t been released.

Lastly, they were unable to get the rights for the Show Express stuff, hence why they don’t appear on The Visitors deluxe edition.

The fact The Singles sold 650 000 copies in the UK was an enormous achievement considering it had everything against it.
1. It was more expensive than regular albums. For the average record buyer the price does matter.
2. Of the 23 songs 16 had already been on the big sellers Greatest hits and Greatest hits vol 2.  Of the remaining 7 only 5 had been hits. The winner takes it all, Suoer Trouper, One of us, Voulez vous and I have a dream .
3. The addition of two brand new singles did not boost the sales while reaching only numbers 32 and 26.