As the music industry moves from record sales to digital streaming, success looks a lot different these days. ABBA, an electro-pop group, has now reached a key milestone in this modern era of music composition. One of ABBA’s iconic tracks has quietly joined the billion-stream club.
The Swedish pop group, made up of two married couples, dominated the charts in the 1970s with anthems that helped define the era. Although they disbanded in 1982, ABBA’s music never really disappeared. The ABBA Gold greatest hits album became a global best-seller in the ‘90s, and their songs took on a second life in the blockbuster musical Mamma Mia!
More recently, the group reunited for a comeback album, Voyage, but it’s their older catalogue that continues to resonate. According to Spotify data, half of ABBA’s current audience falls within the Gen Z demographic, listeners born between 1997 and 2012 who’ve helped propel one song past the 1 billion mark.
That track is “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”- a disco-driven hit first released in 1979. It was later included in the group’s second greatest hits collection. After over 40 years, it’s suddenly trending again.
“More than four decades after its release, the disco anthem is experiencing a powerful resurgence, thanks in large part to Gen Z listeners on Spotify, who are discovering ABBA’s music in massive numbers,” the platform said in a statement.
The song’s revival not only drives a rise in streams but also serves as a reminder of music’s power to cross generations and showcases ABBA’s enduring influence in a world where algorithms often determine what’s old, new or worth rediscovering.