| "Take a Chance on Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by ABBA | ||||
| from the album The Album | ||||
| B-side | "I'm a Marionette" | |||
| Released | January 1978 | |||
| Format | Vinyl | |||
| Recorded | 15 August 1977 at Marcus Music Studio | |||
| Genre | Pop, dance-pop | |||
| Length | 4:05 | |||
| Label | Polar Music, Atlantic | |||
| Writer(s) | Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus |
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| Producer | Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus |
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| Certification | Gold (UK), Gold (USA) | |||
| ABBA singles chronology | ||||
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"Take a Chance on Me" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in 1978 as the second single from their fifth studio album, simply called The Album. The song has been featured on a number of ABBA compilations such as ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits.
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The working title of "Take a Chance on Me" was "Billy Boy". Written & recorded in 1977 by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, it opens as a cold intro and was sung by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, with Fältskog delivering the solo passages, with a constant uptempo throughout the entire recording. It was one of ABBA's first singles in which their manager Stig Anderson did not lend a hand in writing the lyrics, firmly establishing Andersson and Ulvaeus as a songwriting partnership. The song's origins sprang from Ulvaeus, whose hobby was running. While running, he would sing a "tck-a-ch"-style rhythm to himself over and over again, which then evolved into "take-a-chance" and the eventual lyrics. The song's B-side was "I'm a Marionette", which, like "Thank You for the Music" and "I Wonder (Departure)" (the B-side to their previous single, "The Name of the Game"), was intended to be part of a mini-musical entitled The Girl with the Golden Hair that Andersson and Ulvaeus had planned, but ultimately shelved.
"Take a Chance on Me" proved to be one of ABBA's most successful chart hits. It was released in January 1978 and spent 3 weeks at number 1 in the United Kingdom, becoming the third consecutive UK number 1 for the group after "Knowing Me, Knowing You" and "The Name of the Game".[1] It also topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, and Ireland, while being a Top 3 hit in West Germany, the Netherlands, Rhodesia, Switzerland, and the United States, where it allegedly sold more copies than "Dancing Queen". "Take a Chance on Me" also reached the top 10 in Canada, France, and Norway.
| Charts (1978) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 12 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 1 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| British Singles Chart | 1 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 7 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 2 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 | 1 |
| French Singles Chart | 10 |
| German Singles Chart | 3 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 1 |
| Japanese Singles Chart | 67 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 14 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 8 |
| South African Singles Chart | 6 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 3 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Rhodesia | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 3 |
The track was famously covered by English synthpop duo Erasure in 1992, as part of their Abba-esque EP, with an additional ragga-style rap performed by MC Kinky added to the song. The cover topped the UK Singles Chart for 5 weeks in 1992.
Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell recreated ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me" music video playing dual roles — as themselves & in drag — Clarke as Fältskog & Bell as Lyngstad.
| "Take a Chance on Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by A-Teens | ||||
| from the album The ABBA Generation | ||||
| Released | 2000 | |||
| Format | Airplay | |||
| Recorded | 1999 | |||
| Genre | Europop | |||
| Length | 3:52 | |||
| Label | Universal Music | |||
| Writer(s) | B. Andersson B. Ulvaeus |
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| Producer | Thomas Johansson Ronald Malmberg |
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| A-Teens singles chronology | ||||
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"Take a Chance on Me" was an A-Teens promo single from their debut album The ABBA Generation, a cover of the ABBA song of the same name. Universal Music Spain released the song on Spanish radio, hoping to promote the band in Spain in the early 2000s. The song also became part of the Head Over Heels motion picture soundtrack in 2001.
| Preceded by "Figaro" by Brotherhood of Man |
UK Singles Chart number-one single 18 February 1978 – 4 March 1978 |
Succeeded by "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush |
| Irish Singles Chart number-one single 25 February 1978 |
Succeeded by "The Rare Auld Times" by Danny Doyle |
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| Preceded by "I Had Words" by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley |
Belgian Flemish VRT Top 30 number-one single (first run) 4 March 1978 |
Succeeded by "I Had Words" by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley |
| Preceded by "Mull of Kintyre" by Wings |
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles number-one single 8 March 1978 – 29 March 1978 |
Succeeded by "Stayin' Alive" by Bee Gees |
| Preceded by "I Had Words" by Scott Fitzgerald and Yvonne Keeley |
Belgian Flemish VRT Top 30 number-one single (second run) 18 March 1978 |
Succeeded by "I Can't Stand the Rain" by Eruption |
| Preceded by "Mull of Kintyre" by Wings |
Austrian Singles Chart number-one single 17 April 1978 – 8 May 1978 |
Succeeded by "Rivers of Babylon" by Boney M. |