ABBA was a worldwide phenomenon back in the ’70s and early ’80s, with more than two dozen singles hitting the charts in countries around the world. They were never quite as big in the U.S. as they were elsewhere, for whatever reason, but they were still a really big deal.
With that in mind, today’s classic song of the day is one of their bigger hits, “Take a Chance on Me.” Released as a single in January of 1978, this one went all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Cash Box Top 100. Elsewhere in the world, “Take a Chance on Me” topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Ireland, and the UK, and was a top ten hit in a half-dozen other countries.
“Take a Chance on Me” was one of the first ABBA hits that Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (the two “B’s” in ABBA) did not co-write with their manager Stig Anderson, who typically helped out with the English-language lyrics. The song evolved from Björn’s daily running routine, where he repeated the rhythmic phrase “tck-a-ch” to help pace himself. That turned into the “take a chance” chant in the song.
For “Take a Chance on Me,” lead vocal duties were shared by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the two “A’s” in ABBA). Agnetha handled the two bridge sections (“My love is strong enough”) on her own.
“Take a Chance on Me” is typically ranked by fans and critics alike as one of the group’s top five songs. It was the group’s seventh #1 hit in the UK and cemented ABBA’s status as the group with the most chart-topping singles in that country. Long-term, it’s the group’s fourth-biggest selling single, with more than 950,000 copies sold to-date.
And no post about an ABBA tune would be complete without including the always-entrancing music video for the song? That’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, ABBA’s official music video for “Take a Chance on Me.” Love those boots!
