The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number one, with 204,000 chart sales, 90% (180,000) of which were physical sales. It was the biggest opening week for an album in the UK since Ed Sheeran's ÷ (2017), and became the fastest-selling album of 2021 as well as the fastest-selling vinyl LP of the 21st century, with 29,900 vinyl copies sold. It is ABBA's first number-one album since ABBA Gold, which topped the chart in 1992, 1999 and 2008. [49] It became the 3rd biggest album of 2021 in the UK with 400,000 units and the 2nd best-selling album with 387,000 pure sales. [50] As for what to expect from the visual element of the show, she said: “What a great trip. Be ready to have the most amazing visual and sound trip of your life. It’s an experience.” ABBA first announced they were preparing digital avatars in September 2017. Dubbed the "ABBAtars", they will appear during the ABBA Voyage concerts in place of the four actual band members. To animate the avatars, the ABBA band members wore motion-capture suits and were filmed using 160 cameras, with graphics later added by Industrial Light & Magic, [10] [27] a visual effects company.

Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 2022 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry . Retrieved 12 January 2022. Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that it's a surprise that the group has returned with new material and that "it’s a bigger, sweeter surprise that they returned so full of musical vitality. All these years after 'Waterloo', ABBA still refuse to surrender". [41] Commercial performance [ edit ] May 2023 will mark one whole year since the ABBAstar shows began taking place. In April, however, it was revealed that in less than a year after opening, 'ABBA Voyage' had welcomed one million visitors!

Statistics

Savage, Mark (26 August 2021). "Abba tease major announcement ahead of new music". BBC . Retrieved 3 September 2021. Soon after this triumph, ‘Waterloo’ was Number One on the charts all over Europe, even reaching the Top Ten in the US, where the Eurovision Song Contest had no impact. The album of the same name was also a huge hit in Sweden. However, the “stigma” of being winners of the Eurovision Song Contest made it difficult for ABBA to be taken seriously when they tried to follow this first success. It wasn’t until some 18 months later that they got a major worldwide hit again with ‘SOS’, taken off their third album, simply entitled ABBA.

The group also announced that meeting up for the project had “an unexpected consequence. We all felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!” Speaking about watching his 1977 self perform as a digital ABBA-tar, Bjorn said: "It was a special moment for me and my entire family who are coming over to watch. Many are too young to have seen me on stage. It was very emotionally charged to say the least." Percussionist Tuca Milan agreed that being offered the “dream job” of being part of the ABBA Voyage house band was “the best day of my life”, hailing the band as “the classic of the classic”. Paine, Andre (28 June 2023). "One year on, how avatar concert ABBA Voyage is powering the group's classic catalogue". Music Week . Retrieved 1 October 2023.

a b c Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (2 September 2021). "Abba reunite for Voyage, first new album in 40 years". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 August 2021. ABBA the House Band attend the first performance of ABBA “Voyage” at ABBA Arena on May 26, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images) Empire, Kitty (6 November 2021). "Abba: Voyage review – full-on and frothy". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 November 2021. Oficjalna lista sprzedaży:: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 18 November 2021.