ABBA’s ‘Voyage’ scores 2021’s biggest album debut in Australia

Though it was a long four decades between albums, ABBA’s long-awaited comeback still had a huge impact on the Australian album charts.

Taking the top spot on the ARIA Albums Chart last Saturday, ABBA’s new album Voyage marked the biggest album debut in 2021 so far. It almost marked the biggest debut by an international act in not only Australia, but Japan, Germany, France and the UK.

Voyage fell to the second spot on the charts this week, thanks to Taylor Swift’s re-release of her 2012 album Red. She also took the top spot on the ARIA Singles Chart with her 10-minute version of ‘All Too Well’.

Elsewhere, Voyage made even bigger chart impacts, becoming the fastest-selling album of 2021 so far in the UK and having the biggest first-week sales in the same country in four years. In addition, Voyage marked the fastest-selling vinyl release in the UK this century.

“We are so happy that our fans seem to have enjoyed our new album as much as we enjoyed making it!” the band said. “We are absolutely over the moon to have an album at the top of the charts again.”

Upon the announcement of their return earlier this year, the Swedish superstars lit up landmarks around the world, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The band’s success in Australia is history-making, with their 1976 single ‘Fernando’ being recognised by ARIA as the third-longest charting number-one single in the chart’s history (14 weeks).

In addition, their compilation album ABBA Gold has spent an incredible 277 weeks on the Top 100 chart since 1988.