The Winner Takes It All
ABBA | Artist Essentials
First released: 1980 (year verified)
Original English-language studio recording
MusicAtlas editorial note: The unhurried verse and expanding refrain offer a useful introduction to the group's dramatic ballads.
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Release evidence and recording details
First released: 1980 (year verified)
The official album history dates the original single to July 1980, before Super Trouper; the album's November day is not assigned to this earlier single.
Recording: Original English-language studio recording
Credit: ABBA
Role in this collection: Primary artist
Original single: The Winner Takes It All
The making of Super Trouper
Original 1980 album and recordings, The Winner Takes It All single in July 1980, Our Last Summer, and later 1981 single issue of Lay All Your Love on Me. | Reviewed 2026-10-17
In the yearly lists
These are listening-list appearances, separate from the first-release date.
About ABBA
ABBA brought together Swedish performers Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Andersson and Ulvaeus developed the group's songwriting and production partnership, while Fältskog and Lyngstad's voices became central to its recordings. The 1974 Eurovision victory with Waterloo introduced the quartet to a wider international audience. Its 1970s catalog ranges from closely arranged pop songs to dance music and ballads. The members' separate solo and duo recordings belong to different artist histories.
Artist background sources
ABBA - official history
Group members, songwriting partnership, Eurovision breakthrough and original group career; separate member careers. | Retrieved 2026-10-17
Profile reviewed: 2026-10-17. Artist background does not establish a song's creative origin or release date.
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