| The Singles: The First Ten Years | |
| Type: | compilation |
| Artist: | ABBA |
| Cover: | ABBA The Singles.jpg |
| Released: | 8 November 1982 |
| Recorded: | January 1973 – August 1982 |
| Genre: | Pop |
| Length: | 92:44 |
| Label: | Polar (Sweden) Epic (UK, Ireland, Spain and Italy) Atlantic (US and Canada) Polydor (Germany and Netherlands) Vogue (France) RCA (Australia and New Zealand) Sunshine (South Africa) |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | The Visitors |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | Thank You for the Music: A Collection of Love Songs |
| Next Year: | 1983 |
The Singles: The First Ten Years (re-released in 2024 as The Singles: The First Fifty Years) is a double compilation album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on November 8, 1982.[1] [2] Issued as a double album of their most famous single A-sides, the collection included two new tracks: "The Day Before You Came" and "Under Attack".[3] Both songs were released as singles, with "Cassandra" and "You Owe Me One" as their respective B-sides.
In May 1982, ABBA started work on what was meant to be their ninth studio album ended up only completing three songs: "You Owe Me One", "I Am The City" and "Just Like That". Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were not happy with the tracks and shelved the project in favor of a greatest hits album: The Singles: The First Ten Years. Released in November 1982, it contained most of the band's hit singles from their ten years together as recording artists, and included two new tracks: "The Day Before You Came" and "Under Attack".
The Singles: The First Ten Years was released on CD in Canada only by Atlantic Records in 1987, but was quickly deleted in 1988 when Atlantic's rights to the catalog expired.[4] In 2001, the album was replaced by The Definitive Collection. In the Spin Alternative Record Guide (1995), the compilation was ranked 80th on the book's list of the "Top 100 Alternative Albums".[5]
Richard Cook in the New Musical Express described the collection as a "documentation of the group who altered the course of pop more than anyone else. It resulted in a seam of unbroken, highly individual pop music that in lifespan terms is still unmatched."[6]
In September 2024, a new compilation was announced as an update to The Singles: The First Ten Years.[7] Titled The Singles: The First Fifty Years, the 38-track collection not only contains the singles from Voyage (ABBA's latest studio album), but also includes ten extra tracks from the 1972-1982 period that were not included on the 1982 compilation.[8] It was released on October 25, 2024, and issued as a 2CD set and a 4LP 180g vinyl package. Both formats feature an illustrated booklet with unseen band images and liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm.[9]
Released as a double album, the compilation was divided into two records.
All tracks are written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, and Stig Anderson, except where noted.
All tracks are written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.
ABBA
Additional personnel
Production
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[10] | 18 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) | 1 |
| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] | 9 |
| French Albums (SNEP) | 6 |
| South African Albums (RISA) | 1 |
| Swiss Albums (Swiss Hitparade) | 4 |
| Peak position | |
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] | 42 |
|---|---|
| Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[13] | 7 |