1992 Hit Album Spent a Record-Breaking 1,000 Weeks on the Charts

This year, the Eurovision Song Contest celebrates its 70th year. Arguably one of the most successful things to come from the contest's seven-decade-long history is ABBA.

The Swedish supergroup found themselves thrust into fame after they won the contest in 1974. The quartet - Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog, and Bjorn Ulvaeus - won over the international juries at the Eurovision finale in Brighton with an iconic rendition of their now-iconic hit, "Waterloo".

In 2021, almost fifty years later, the musicians once again made history with a greatest hits compilation album that spent a record-breaking amount of time in the charts.

First released in September 1992, ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits spent a whopping 1,000 weeks in the Official Albums Chart Top 100, becoming the first-ever album to hit this United Kingdom chart milestone.

The album spent 19 years and 12 weeks in the top 100, and a total of 17 weeks at number one between its release on September 21, 1992, and the record-breaking day in July 2021. Since its initial release, the record has been rereleased numerous times, including a special 30th anniversary edition in 2022.

Featuring some of ABBA's most notable hits including "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," and, of course, "Waterloo," ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits has sold over 32 copies worldwide.

It remains the second biggest-selling album in UK history, behind Queen's Greatest Hits, per the BBC.

Upon hearing the news, musician Andersson joked that the achievement "not bad for four old turnips,"

The album is the music group's most successful to date, and even outsold other best-selling records such as Voulez-Vous and Arrival. It also saw a new wave of interest in the band, and following is release, ABBA's hits inspired a Broadway musical and two movies with an all-star cast that includedMeryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, and Pierce Brosnan.

In September 2019, Pitchfork said it the "definitive example, external" of the greatest hits format.

"To have racked up 1,000 weeks on the Official Albums Chart, a solid 20 years of chart presence, is quite remarkable," said charts boss Martin Talbot. "It not only highlights [Abba's] incredible popularity, but just how closely they have connected with a succession of new generations."

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This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 9:43 AM.