ABBA’s singles did effectively no matter time of yr they had been launched, however the Swedish superstars thrived in summer season, and August 9 is an particularly profitable day of their historical past. On that date in 1980, they achieved the eighth of their 9 UK No.1s with “The Winner Takes It All,” and precisely 5 years earlier than that, the group entered the Billboard Scorching 100 with “SOS.”
“The Winner Takes It All” was extensively hailed by followers as the discharge that took ABBA to new heights of pop sophistication. It was additionally maybe probably the most poignant lyric ever written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, because it described the disintegration of a relationship, not solely as Björn and Agnetha’s marriage reached its finish, however with Benny and Frida now having issues of their very own.
This primary single from the brand new Tremendous Trouper album featured an impassioned lead vocal by Agnetha, who needed to carry out to digital camera for the video simply ten days after her divorce from Björn turned last. Whether or not their hundreds of thousands of admirers had been conscious of that or not, they cherished the only. “The Winner Takes It All” debuted on the British chart at No.9 earlier than beginning its two-week run on the prime. In November, when the Tremendous Trouper LP arrived, that spent an impressive 9 weeks on the UK summit.
Again in 1975, ABBA had been mainly recognized in America, as in lots of nations, for his or her Eurovision winner of the yr earlier than, “Waterloo.” Solely “Honey Honey” had charted since, and that peaked at No.27. However “SOS” received vital airplay assist from American radio stations and debuted on the Scorching 100 a number of weeks earlier than it charted in another territories, albeit at a modest No.89.
Per week later, issues didn’t look good. The track misplaced its “bullet,” the Billboard image that denoted a powerful improve in weekly gross sales, because it struggled to No.84. Certain sufficient, per week later, it was gone from the Scorching 100. Then one thing outstanding and weird occurred. “SOS” re-entered the countdown on September 6 at an much more tentative No.99, earlier than climbing ten locations. Then it once more regarded doomed, when it misplaced its bullet a second time, inching to No.86.
However someway, the only stored going, radio stations stored including it to their playlists and file patrons responded. It regained its momentum with a bounce to No.76 after which actually took off, vaulting to No.53, 40, 24 and on into the Prime 20. “SOS” peaked at No.15 within the States that November.
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