9 'Mamma Mia!' Songs Go Silver -- UK

  Two other 'Mamma Mia!' Songs are now Silver, (200,000+ Sales), in the UK.

  They are:

  Lily James & Hugh Skinner  --  Waterloo  --  Silver  --  Friday 14th May 2021

  Lily James  --  Andante Andante  --  Silver  --  Friday 28th May 2021

These sort of sales transported back to the 70s 8os would have given them top 5 status. Of course I think the Abba versions would have fared even better at the time of their origin. Unlike some other artists Abba did not milk
albums dry for singles apart from maybe Abba album . Had they done so I think there would have been at least another 12 songs that could have been top 5 , maybe even a few more number ones amongst them. Those in my list would have been When I kissed the Teacher, My love My Life, Eagle, Hole in Your Soul, As Good as New, If it wasn't for the nights, Andante andante, Happy New Year, On and on and on, The Visitors and Slipping Through my fingers. The latter should have been released on 2008 at the time of the first movie. It was a big hit with mothers and daughters. That I am sure could have the topped charts then. And of course a big mistake in not releasing Honey Honey in the UK in early 1975.

   I've just 'found' another 'Mamma Mia!' Song, that has gone Silver, (200,000+ Sales), in the UK.
   It is another Song from the 2nd 'Mamma Mia!' Film.

   J Dylan/L James/H Skinner  --  Why Did It Have To Be Me  --  Silver  --  Friday 26th June 2020

     The 9th 'Mamma Mia' Song to go Silver, in the UK, is 'Slipping Through My Fingers'. The Song, 
     was Sung by Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried, in the 1st, (2008), 'Mamma Mia!' Film.

     Original Cast Recording -- Slipping Through My Fingers -- Silver -- Friday 17th December 2021

  There are still a great many People, (usually under 40), who have never heard the
  ABBA Originals of 'Mamma Mia' etc. They only know the 'Mamma Mia!' Films Covers.
  A lot of those People are from the USA. I sometimes wonder if Atlantic Records really
  Promoted ABBA, in the USA, as much as they should have. ABBA really should have
  been much bigger there than they were.

onlyabba4meagain , HOMETIME ,

I also think Atlantic didn't promote ABBA properly. Yes, that mega promotion in May 1978 was wasted. Eagle was released and then withdrawn, SNC not released and Chiquitita not released until the end of 1979.

Quite a few songs have silver certification in the UK - and more sales than the original ABBA songs. That is just wrong!

Onlyabba4meagain, 3 more certifications. All Silver and all from first Mamma Mia! film

11. Mamma Mia - Meryl Sreep 20/08/21
12. Dancing Queen - Original Cast Recording 10/06/22
13. Our Last Summer - Original Cast Recording 11/02/22

 
This bit sticks out for me. We're now in a place where individual album tracks - as opposed to officially released singles - can get precious-metal certificiation. As popular as the MM franchise is, would the streams of OLS on the soundtrack actually outstrip the vastly superior original? Relying on onlyabba4meagain's excellent grasp of that part of the industry here, but have ABBA's non-single album tracks had this kind of certification too? 

As for the expensive American non-starter, I wonder if there were some transatlantic heated exchanges by phone as the end of the year beckoned? Stig never struck me as a man you'd want to be on the wrong side of. This is precisely the kind of thing I'd imagine being explored in CMP's forthcoming book - isn't it all about how the records were released and promoted (or have I got it arseways again?)?

Hometime - you ask, albeit to OnlyAbbaformeagain, if ABBA's non singles received (Uk) certifications.

The answer is "No". Only ABBA's 19 Originsl Top 10 singles and the minor hit Thank You For the Music have received certifications. The latter being downloads/streaming and also SOS and LAYLOM which didn't get physical certifications back on the day. Waterloo and The Winner Takes it All didn't get certifications then - even though they were eligible then.
Don't Shut Me Down is more than half way to being Silver

But 100% agree with you about ABBA album tracks not getting certifications while MM ABBA album tracks do not.

I recall we had this conversation about When All is Said and Done being more familiar because of that bloody awful Pierce Brosnan version than that great ABBA original.

If you awake in the midst of the night with what seems like a Sonic Boom, well it won't be. Just be going "No" for all the world to hear if Pierce gets Silver Disc ahead of ABBA for WAISSD.

Onlyabba4meagain - nice to have you back on board sgain. Hope you are well.

Certification process in the UK is indeed inconsistent. But probably the best in the world! Yes, other countries are worse for this!

Back in the day they were for shipments and record companies had to apply for them.

Now they are automatic and based on sales and streaming equivalent sales.

Most countries have the old apply for method. Gold Greatest Hits has for example not been updated in the US since 2002 or since 1999 in Sweden or The Netherlands.

Back to the UK for singles you can't add physical era to digital era sales. But you can for albums. Go figure!

When All is Said and Done would have made a great single. I quite like your idea of having it now as a single with B side. ABBA could release it after announcing no more new songs ever and formally announcing stopping. It won't happen but you can dream.

It's sad that many people only know some great ABBA tracks from Mamma Mia and not ABBA themselves.