| Greatest Hits Vol. 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greatest hits album by ABBA | ||||
| Released | October 29, 1979 | |||
| Recorded | October 1974- August 1979 |
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| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 58:25 | |||
| Label | Polar (Sweden) Epic (UK) Atlantic (US) |
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| Producer | Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus | |||
| ABBA chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Robert Christgau | C[2] |
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 is a compilation album by Swedish pop group ABBA, released in October 1979 to coincide with their tour of North America and Europe (taking place between September and November 1979). It was ABBA's second chart-topping album of the year, the first being Voulez-Vous, and contained the brand new single "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", recorded in August 1979.
A round-up of ABBA’s hits since their first compilation album (released in 1975), the album exclusively included material recorded between the years 1976 and 1979 (albums Arrival, The Album and Voulez-Vous plus non-album single "Summer Night City") - with one exception, "Rock Me" from 1975 album ABBA, issued as a single and became a top 5 hit in Australia and New Zealand after the release of the band's first hits package Greatest Hits and also part of the setlist on the 1979 world tour.
"Angeleyes" was included primarily due to its success as a single in the UK, where it was the lead track of a double A-side with "Voulez-Vous". Elsewhere, "Voulez-Vous" had been the A-side in its own right but it was not included on the album. However, the track "I Wonder (Departure)" was not believed to have been released as a single anywhere, but was featured.
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 received massive commercial success in Japan, selling in excess of 920,000 units on the chart (it was the best-selling album by non-domestic artists at the time, until Michael Jackson's Thriller and the soundtrack of the motion picture Flashdance each sold over 1 million copies in the 1980s).
Greatest Hits Vol. 2 was released on CD in 1983 By Atlantic Records, but was deleted in the mid 1980s.
Contents |
All songs by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, unless otherwise noted.
ABBA
Additional personnel
| Chart (1979–81) | Position | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart (top 100)[3] | 1 | 63 |
| Japanese Oricon Weekly CT Chart (top 100)[4] | 1 | 57 |
| Japanese Oricon Weekly LP Chart (top 100)[4] | 2 | 51 |
| Belgium | 1 | |
| Canada | 1 | |
| Finland | 5 | |
| Spain | 3 | |
| Switzerland | 2 | |
| The Netherlands | 4 | |
| Zimbabwe | 2 | |
| West Germany | 6 | |
| Austrian Albums Chart (top 20)[5] | 2 | 34 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart (top 50)[6] | 3 | 14 |
| Swedish Albums Chart (top 50)[7] | 20 | 5 |
| Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart (top 40)[8] | 25 | 4 |
| United States Billboard 200 [9] | 46 | — |
According to The Official Charts Company, the album spent 20 consecutive weeks in the Top 40 from 10 November 1979 to 22 March 1980. It then charted for another five weeks in the lower reaches of the Top 40 between March and September 1980.
Weekly chart positions from 10 November 1979 to 22 March 1980: 8-1-1-1-2-2-2-2-2-1-2-4-5-11-11-17-19-25-35-33
| Preceded by Tusk by Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 by Rod Stewart |
UK Albums Chart number one album 17 November 1979 - 1 December 1979 12 January 1980 |
Succeeded by Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 by Rod Stewart Pretenders by The Pretenders |