ABBA for Christmas No1? Swedish icons to release first-ever festive single

ABBA look set to enter the race for this year’s Christmas No1 with their first-ever festive song.

The Swedish pop icons have announced the upcoming physical release of the Yuletide track ‘Little Things’, which is set to be released on CD on December 3.

A press release states that: “‘Little Things’ is a gentle reflection on the joy of Christmas morning and family time around this special time of year.”

And a festive music video is set to follow.

The likes of Mariah Carey, Gary Barlow, Sigrid, and ABBA’s chart rival, Ed Sheeran, who is teaming up with Sir Elton John on a number of Christmas songs, have festive records already out or on the way this year.

ABBA’s single is from their chart-topping comeback album, ‘Voyage’, the ‘Dancing Queen’ hitmakers’ first studio album in 40 years, which rocketed to the top of the Official Album Charts in the UK, landing the band their 10th number one last week.

‘Voyage’ is the fastest-selling album of 2021 so far and has earned the title of being the biggest opening week on the UK’s Official Albums Chart in four years, when Ed Sheeran set the record with his album, ‘Divide’.

The record is also the fastest-selling album released by a group in eight years, since One Direction’s ‘Midnight Memories’ in 2013, and ABBA are now the fourth act in the past decade to surpass 200,000 UK chart sales in release week.

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

The sales of ‘Voyage’ are made up of 90 per cent physical copies, including 29,000 vinyl sales, meaning it is also the fastest-selling vinyl release of the century, overtaking the 24,500 first-week vinyl sales of Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Tranquillity Base Hotel Casino’ in 2018.

It also marked ABBA’s 58th total week as UK Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart – only two other acts in history have spent more weeks at the top, The Beatles and Elvis Presley.

ABBA’s impressive album sales also knocked Ed Sheeran’s new record, ‘=’ off the top spot.

Article source: https://www.contactmusic.com/ed-sheeran/news/abba-for-christmas-no1-swedish-icons-to-release-first-ever-festive-single_6337477