ABBA on course for tenth number one as group outsells all of top 40 combined

ABBA’s ‘Voyage’ is leading the way in the mid-week charts

ABBA is on course to achieve its tenth number one album with Voyage.

According to the midweek Official Albums Chart, ABBA is outselling all of the top 40 combined with 118,000 chart sales over the weekend.

The album, which is the group’s first in over 40 years, is also on course to be the fastest-selling album of the year after already achieving both the fastest-selling physical release and the biggest first-week pure sales (which combines physical and digital sales) of 2021 so far.

The Official Albums Chart say the group is also on course to achieve the biggest opening week for an album in over four years. To achieve this, the group must first beat the first-week sales of Ed Sheeran’s Equals, which stood at 139,000. Currently, the group looks on course to achieve this milestone.

ABBA was last at number one when its greatest hits collection, Gold, returned to the top of the album charts in 2008. However, Voyage is the group’s first studio release since 1981’s number one album,The Visitors.

Elsewhere in the mid-week charts, Ed Sheeran’s Equals is at number two, while Radiohead’s anniversary re-issue of Kid A and Amnesiac - Kid A Mnesia, is at number three.

Digital avatars of the most famous Swedes in music (Abba Voyage)

Reviews of ABBA’s new album were mixed. While The Independent andThe Times gave the album five and four starts respectively, others like The Guardian and The i gave the album just two stars. The NME and TheTelegraph awarded three stars each.

You can read some more of the reaction to the release here.

Reviewing Voyage, The Independent’s Helen Brown said: “Ulvaeus has said that although there are two songs that he and Anderson had half-written, this is the last we will hear from ABBA. They’ve owned the traumas and triumphs of their past with admirable honesty on Voyage. It’s a terrific, family-friendly smorgasbord of a record that delivers all the classic ABBA flavours. I think we can let them go now. Tack for the music, guys!”