GOLD - A Celebration

Gold: Greatest Hits is a compilation album of recordings by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released on September 21, 1992 through PolyGram, the first compilation to be released after the company had acquired Polar Music and thus the rights to the ABBA back catalogue. In 1998, PolyGram was in turn merged into what is now the Universal Music Group. With sales in excess of 28 million copies, it is th...e best-selling ABBA album as well as one of the best-selling albums worldwide.

Prior to its release, all previously released ABBA compilations had been deleted and only the original studio albums (along with the 1986 live album) remained in print. Gold: Greatest Hits was well received by the music-buying public, and went on to be one of the best-selling albums of all time worldwide. Worldwide sales as of 2009 are 28 million, Gold: Greatest Hits has emerged as the group's all-time greatest success. It is the third biggest selling album of all time in the UK as of June 2009, having sold 4,610,813 copies in that territory. The album entered the UK album charts at number 1 in October 1992, and had climbed back to number 1 position four times after then, the most recent time in 2008. It has occupied every position in the top 75 of the U.K. album chart, while also appearing in the chart every year since the release except for 2002 and 2006. In Germany, Gold is the third biggest-selling album of all time with sales of 2.5 million units.

It is also the best-selling album of all time in Switzerland, with certified sales of almost half a million copies there It is also all time chart champion album in Switzerland for longevity, (W/E 11 September 2011 No.81 and 250 weeks in chart). Gold: Greatest Hits has been re-released in various "special" or "remastered" releases in 1999, 2002, a 2003 CD/DVD release, 2004 and 2008. Most recently, in December 2010, Gold was again re-released with a bonus DVD; this time featuring the group's original promotional films in newly remastered high resolution. A similar package titled ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos features fifteen ABBA songs sung in Spanish.

The original 1992 release included edited versions of "Voulez-Vous" and "The Name of the Game." These were replaced by the full original-length versions on the 1999 and subsequent re-releases. The original 1992 version is still the only one available in the United States. However, the Australasian release had a modified track list to include three local hits, replacing three other songs. In Spain, the original 1992 release replaced the English versions of "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" with the Spanish language versions.

In 1999, the album was remastered and released both worldwide and in Australasia with the different track listings to commemorate ABBA's 25th Anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo". This new version was called the "signature series", as it came with autographs from the band members embedded into the front plastic casing in gold writing. This new version also contained new liner (sleeve) notes.

A 10th Anniversary Edition was released worldwide in 2002 with a revised booklet and updated liner notes. The ABBA logo was changed to the official ABBA font and the back cover was redesigned. It was released in Europe and New Zealand (with the European track list, and not the previous Australasian track list). This version was not released in Australia.

A 2xCD Special Edition with Bonus CD was released on 22 September 2003. The DVD released in 2003 included the same 19 songs as the CD, plus a 25-minute documentary ABBA – The History, as well as the 1992 version of the "Dancing Queen" video. This includes scenes from other clips edited into the original video, which was made to promote the original release of Gold: Greatest Hits.
A 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2004 in UK with a gold-coloured sleeve cover rather than the normal black sleeve. The original release included a DVD with 18 of the 19 songs from the CD, excluding "The Name Of The Game". It was available also without the DVD.

Gold: Greatest Hits was re-released in some territories in 2008, coinciding with the release of the film Mamma Mia!' in a so-called super jewel case, with updated liner notes and with remastered sound. The Australasian release featured the European track list, not the Australasian track list on previous issues.

The album topped the UK album chart on five separate occasions, sixteen years apart, first in 1992, then three times in 1999, and then again in 2008. It was also in the UK Top 50 best-sellers of 2004.[8] As a result, Gold: Greatest Hits is one of the best-selling and longest-charting albums released in the United Kingdom. It is the second longest charting album of all time (the longest charting album is Greatest Hits Vol.1 by Queen with 490 weeks in the top 100), it has totalled 489 weeks in the Top 100, and as of 18th September 2011 stands at No.78 in addition it has been in the Top 200 for 812 weeks

On July 24, 2008, it also topped for the first time the US Top Pop Catalogue Albums charts, being its first number 1 ever in any one of Billboard's Album charts, previously peaking at number 17 on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums charts, where it finally peaked at number 11. In the 2010 Billboard Year End charts, Gold: Greatest Hits finished in 20th position for the year in the Top Pop Catalogue Album charts.

In the Irish Album Chart, the album, as of 04 August 2011, has been in the top 100 best selling albums for 536 weeks.

Gold: Greatest Hits was re-released as a new CD/DVD package on 6 December 2010. The DVD features newly remastered versions of all the videos and an extremely scarce cartoon video of "Money, Money, Money" only previously seen in Australia in the seventies, in addition 5 other videos will show a split screen to demonstrate the quality difference between the original and the remastered videos


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