ABBA to release five new songs in 2021

ABBA's brand new music will now be released in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, says Bjorn Ulveaus of the band.

Newly recorded music from the chart icons was confirmed in April 2018; at the time, two songs I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down were revealed. The tracks were described as "very danceable" and "timeless, more reflective".

The new tracks are to coincide with a hologram tour, itself first detailed way back in October 2016, with ABBA's holographic counterparts bringing the new songs to life. The ABBAtar hologram tour was to be promoted in a BBC TV special in December 2018, but was delayed due to both legal complications and technical difficulties with the digital likenesses of Bjorn, Benny, Anna-Frid and Agnetha.

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Now Bjorn has told journalist Geoff Lloyd that due to COVID-19 bringing mass gatherings to a standstill, the new ABBA music - and ABBAtars - won't see the light of day until next year.

Speaking of the upcoming interview on his podcast Reasons To Be Cheerful, Geoff explained: "I got to spend an hour with Bjorn Ulveaus from ABBA via Zoom. They've recorded five new songs. They should have been out at the end of last year. They're going to these holograms out on tour. Because of technical difficulties and the pandemic, it's delayed things. But he promised me that the new ABBA music will be out in 2021."

ABBA have scored nine Number 1 singles and nine Number 1 albums in the UK. Their greatest hits collection Gold has spent more weeks on the Official Albums Chart Top 100 than any other album and is the second bestselling album of all time in the UK, with 5.57 million copies sold as of May 2020. Look back at ABBA's full UK chart history. 

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