Thank You for the Music

{{Infobox song

| name = Thank You for the Music

| cover = ABBA - Eagle - Thank You for the Music.png

| alt =

| type = single

| A-side = Eagle

| artist = ABBA

| album = The Album

| released = 18 May 1978

| recorded = 21 July 1977

| studio = Glen Studio

| genre = Pop

| length = 3:52

| label = Polar

| writer = * Benny Andersson

Björn Ulvaeus

| producer = * Benny Andersson

Björn Ulvaeus

| prev_title = Take a Chance on Me

| prev_year = 1978

| title2 = Eagle

| next_title = Summer Night City

| next_year = 1978

| misc = {{Extra chronology

| type = single

| prev_title = Under Attack

| prev_year = 1982

| title = Thank You For The Music

| year = 1983

| next_title = Dancing Queen

| next_year = 1992

}}

{{Extra chronology

| type = single

| prev_title = Voulez-Vous

| prev_year = 1992

| title = Thank You For The Music

| year = 1992

| next_title = Summer Night City

| next_year = 1993

}}

{{Extra album cover

| header = Alternative cover

| type = single

| cover = Thank-You-For-The-Music.jpg

| border = yes

| alt =

| caption = 1983 artwork for UK release

}}

{{External music video|{{YouTube|0dcbw4IEY5w|"Thank You for the Music"}} }}

}}

"Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album, The Album (1977), and was released as a double-A sided single with "Eagle" in May 1978 in limited territories, namely Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland and Australia. In South Africa where it peaked at number 2 in August 1978 and became the eighteenth best-selling single of that year.

"Gracias por la Música" is the Spanish-language recording of "Thank You for the Music", with lyrics by Buddy and Mary McCluskey. The B-side was the Spanish-language version of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" entitled "¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!". The song was released in 1980 to promote the band's Spanish-language album/compilation Gracias Por La Música. It was the group's seventh best-selling Spanish single, and also peaked at number 4 in Argentina.

"Thank You for the Music" also formed part of ABBA: The Movie which featured studio recordings of selected songs from the then newly released album ABBA: The Album. The song is included in the final scenes as the hapless journalist finally gets to broadcast his ABBA radio special, including an interview, on Australian radio. The song is accompanied by footage of a studio recording session, a live stage performance and a mimed studio performance by the four members of the group. The song also plays over the closing titles as the camera pans out from the band performing in a hut on an island in the Stockholm archipelago to views of the archipelago itself.

The song was re-released in November 1983, to promote the Epic Records compilation album of the same name.

History

The recording of "Thank You for the Music" started in Marcus Music Studio in Stockholm, on 2 June 1977. The group had also performed the tune at their concert tour through Europe and Australia during the spring of 1977, as part of a mini-musical "The Girl with the Golden Hair" where the song was used as an ending encore. The lyrics used in this live version were slightly different from the studio version recorded later. Before the tour, in December 1976, Andersson and Ulvaeus also performed a segment of the melody on piano and acoustic guitar on the Swedish evening news programme "Rapport".

The first recording of the tune had a jazzy cabaret feel with Agnetha Fältskog on a solo song, inspired by artists in the style of Doris Day and similar. The group later made another arrangement of the same melody, which became the more widely known version. The first version was released in its entirety on the 1994 CD box "Thank You for the Music". The later version was recorded on 21 July 1977 in Glen Studio (a family studio that used to be located in the Glenmark family home but now relocated to a small former grocery shop close to their home).

The song was included on "The Album" and was used as a final melody in the film "ABBA - The Movie", which had its premiere at Christmas of 1977. The single "Eagle" of May 1978 also had this song as its B-side. It was later included in "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" released in the fall of 1979 when ABBA started touring North America and Europe. A promotion video was recorded in February 1978, directed by Lasse Hallström, where ABBA sings "Thank You for the Music" in front of kids singing along.

"Thank You for the Music" was later included on "ABBA Gold - Greatest Hits" of 1992. In 1999, it was used for the musical "Mamma Mia!", and in 2008 for the film with the same title. When the musical was translated into Swedish by Niklas Strömstedt, it got the title "Tack för alla sånger" ("Thanks for all the songs").

Reception

It was not released as a single in the United Kingdom and Ireland until late 1983, peaking at number 33 and number 17 respectively. In the Netherlands, the song peaked at number 23. The title of the song "Thank You for the Music" is often taken to signal the end of ABBA, leading it to be considered a farewell song.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

As of September 2021, it is ABBA's 20th-biggest song in the UK, including both pure sales and digital streams.UK Official Charts [https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/abbas-official-top-20-biggest-songs__26113/ ABBA's Official Top 20 biggest songs]

Charts

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable"
Chart (1980) !Peak position
scope="row"\|Argentina {{cite magazine\|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1980/CB-1980-05-17.pdf\|title=Cash Box - International Best Sellers\|magazine=Cashbox\|date=17 May 1980\|access-date=26 July 2023}} \|align="center"\|7
scope="row"\|Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book\|title=Australian Charts Book 1993—2005\|author=David Kent\|isbn=978-0-646-45889-2\|year=2006\|publisher=Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W.\|page=10}} \| {{center\|82}}
South Africa (Springbok){{cite web\|title=SA Charts 1965 – March 1989\|url=http://www.rock.co.za/files/springbok_top_20_(A).html\|access-date=1 September 2018}} \|align="center"\|2

class="wikitable sortable"

Chart (1980)

!Peak
position

scope="row"|Argentina {{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1980/CB-1980-05-17.pdf|title=Cash Box - International Best Sellers|magazine=Cashbox|date=17 May 1980|access-date=26 July 2023}}

|align="center"|7

scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report){{cite book|title=Australian Charts Book 1993—2005|author=David Kent|isbn=978-0-646-45889-2|year=2006|publisher=Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W.|page=10}}

| {{center|82}}

South Africa (Springbok){{cite web|title=SA Charts 1965 – March 1989|url=http://www.rock.co.za/files/springbok_top_20_(A).html|access-date=1 September 2018}}

|align="center"|2

Chart (1983–84) !Peak position
class="wikitable"
{{single chart\|Ireland2\|17\|song=Thank You for the Music\|access-date=26 September 2018}}
{{single chart\|Dutch40\|38\|artist=ABBA\|song=Thank You for the Music\|access-date=11 November 2021}}
Netherlands (Single Top 100){{cite web\|url=http://dutchcharts.nl/showinterpret.asp?interpret=ABBA \|title=Dutch Charts > ABBA \|language=nl \|publisher=dutchcharts.nl Hung Medien\|access-date=15 August 2021}} \| style="text-align:center;"\|23
UK Singles (OCC){{cite web\|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/8604/abba/\|title=Official Charts Company" ABBA\|publisher=Official Charts Company\|access-date=15 August 2021}} \| style="text-align:center;"\|33

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable"

Chart (1978)

! style="text-align:center;"|Rank

South Africa (Springbok){{cite web|title=Top 20 Hit Singles of 1978|url=http://www.rock.co.za/files/sahits_1978.html|access-date=12 October 2018}}

|align="center"|18

Certifications

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=ABBA|title=Thank You for the Music|award=Silver|relyear=2008|certyear=2021|id=6527-1693-1|access-date=13 August 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}