History
The original 1992 release included edited versions of "Voulez-Vous" and "The Name of the Game." These were replaced by the full original-length versions on the 1999 and subsequent re-releases. The original 1992 version is still the only one available in the United States. However, the Australasian release had a modified track list to include three local hits, replacing three other songs. In Spain, the original 1992 release replaced the English versions of "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" with the Spanish language versions.
In 1999, the album was remastered and released both worldwide and in Australasia with the different track listings to commemorate ABBA's 25th Anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest with "Waterloo". This new version was called the "signature series", as it came with autographs from the band members embedded into the front plastic casing in gold writing. This new version also contained new sleeve notes.
A 10th Anniversary Edition was released worldwide in 2002 with a revised booklet and updated liner notes. The ABBA logo was changed to the official ABBA font and the back cover was redesigned. It was released in Europe and New Zealand (with the European track list, and not the previous Australasian track list). This version was not released in Australia.
A 2xCD Special Edition with Bonus CD was released on 22 September 2003. The DVD released in 2003 included the same 19 songs as the CD, plus a 25-minute documentary ABBA – The History, as well as the 1992 version of the "Dancing Queen" video. This includes scenes from other clips edited into the original video, which was made to promote the original release of Gold: Greatest Hits.
A 30th Anniversary Edition was released in 2004 in UK with a gold-coloured sleeve cover rather than the normal black sleeve. The original release included a DVD with 18 of the 19 songs from the CD, excluding "The Name Of The Game". It was available also without the DVD.
Gold: Greatest Hits was re-released in some territories in 2008, coinciding with the release of the film Mamma Mia! in a so-called super jewel case, with updated liner notes and with remastered sound. The Australasian release featured the European track list, not the Australasian track list on previous issues.
The album topped the UK Albums Chart on five separate occasions, sixteen years apart, first in 1992, then three times in 1999, and then again in 2008. As a result, Gold: Greatest Hits is one of the best-selling and is the longest-charting album released in the United Kingdom, currently totalling 507 weeks in the top 100 and 892 weeks in the top 200.
On 2 August 2008, it topped the US Top Pop Catalog Albums chart for the first time, being its first number one ever on any one of Billboard's charts, previously peaking at number seventeen on the Billboard Comprehensive Albums chart, where it finally peaked at number eleven. Gold: Greatest Hits was listed at number twenty on the Top Pop Catalog Albums year-end chart of 2010.
Gold: Greatest Hits was re-released as a new CD+DVD package on 6 December 2010. The DVD features newly remastered versions of all the videos and an extremely scarce cartoon video of "Money, Money, Money" only previously seen in Australia in the seventies, in addition five other videos will show a split screen to demonstrate the quality difference between the original and the remastered videos.
Read more about this topic: Gold: Greatest Hits (ABBA Album)
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