Australian Sales Figures

This page has a list of all the Australian releases sales figures that I could get my hands on. From 1991 to 1994, I relentlessly badgered, cajoled and lied my way through record company red tape to snag these sales figures. To this day my biggest sadness is that I do not have the original RCA sales figures from the 1970's, apart from the first 7 items - these are total sales as per an ad that RCA placed in Billboard in 1977, up to the end of 1976. The ABBA - The Album sales figure is from David Fyfe via Carl Magnus Palm from a Melbourne newspaper article titled "Can Abba Survive?" by Pat Bowring dated 18 January 1979. The Certifications for Chiquitita, Voulez-Vous and Super Trouper are from the Kent Music Report.

An interesting fact I heard while researching - apparently Rainbow (responsible for the 3 worst Ring Ring covers ever) was negotiating the rights for Waterloo when PolyGram thankfully took over. Phew!

Finally, currently in Australia it takes 70,000 sales (total) to win a Platinum Award, and 35,000 for a Gold Award.

Key to Abbreviations:

Date: Release date, usually to the day.

Title: The title of the single or album. All are albums except for "Fernando", "Dancing Queen", "Money, Money, Money", "The Way You Are", "The Last Time", and "I Wasn't The One".

Catalogue: The Australian record company's name and catalogue number.
VPL and VPK are RCA first release (full price) LP and Tape respectively.
VAL and VAK are RCA budget release numbers for LP and Tape respectively.
Polar CD's were imported by RCA and released locally.
Summit re-released Ring Ring in 1980, the 1984 date is likely when Rainbow took over. This had the Eagle single sleeve cover picture.
Rainbow released Ring Ring with 2 different covers, one green, one black, both budget releases.
PolyGram numbers starting with a 3 are original PolyGram cassettes
PolyGram 550 series numbers are budget release.
PolyGram 8 series numbers are mid-price releases.
Dash numbers at the end indicate - 1 for LP, 2 for CD, 3 for VHS, 4 for Tape, 5 for DCC.
Agnetha's WEA material is total sales for the item and is not broken into formats.

Sales: The amount of copies sold, to the number. Returns to the record company are counted and the number decreased accordingly.

Notes: Any additional notes and information I may have about an item.

The Sales:
Australian Sales Figures
DateTitleCatalogueSalesSource/Notes
??/05/1974WaterlooRCA VPL1-4003112,000RCA Billboard Ad
??/05/1975ABBARCA VPL1-4013570,000RCA Billboard Ad
09/09/1975Mamma MiaRCA 102671200,000Don Lane TV Interview March 1976
??/11/1975The Best of ABBARCA VPL1-40201,010,000RCA Billboard Ad
??/12/1975Ring RingRCA VPL1-4022142,000RCA Billboard Ad
08/03/1976FernandoRCA 102746400,000RCA Billboard Ad
09/08/1976Dancing QueenRCA 102814322,000RCA Billboard Ad
25/10/1976Money, Money, MoneyRCA 102835244,000RCA Billboard Ad
??/01/1978ABBA - The AlbumRCA VPL1-406070,000Melbourne Newspaper
??/01/1979ChiquititaRCA 10329750,000Gold Certification
??/05/1979Voulez-VousRCA VPL1-413550,000Gold Certification
??/11/1980Super TrouperRCA VPL1-654270,000Platinum Certification
12/08/1983Ring RingSummit Concorde CSCD-49900714,752MC
03/03/1984Ring RingSummit Concorde SCD-4990071,069LP
26/10/1989Ring RingRainbow RCD-6019,500Green Cover
??/??/1990Ring RingRainbow RCD-9128?Black Cover
16/08/1990Ring RingPolyGram 843642-4212
01/02/1991Ring RingPolyGram 843642-21,417
22/10/1984WaterlooRCA VAL1-0464896
22/10/1984WaterlooRCA VAK1-04644,582
16/08/1990WaterlooPolyGram 843643-4468
01/02/1991WaterlooPolyGram 843643-21,533
28/09/1993WaterlooPolyGram 550034-27,126
14/02/1994WaterlooPolyGram 550034-4437
07/05/1990ABBAPolyGram 831596-221,883
05/10/1992ABBAPolyGram 831596-4494
22/11/1975The Best of ABBARCA VPK1-402037,8221st release
04/07/1988The Best of ABBARCA SPCD-10395,786
04/07/1988The Best of ABBARCA SPCK-10395,807
23/07/1984ArrivalPolar POLCD-2721,196
09/04/1990ArrivalPolyGram 821319-25,306
01/09/1991ArrivalPolyGram 3226058285
05/10/1992ArrivalPolyGram 821319-4178
23/07/1984ABBA - The AlbumPolar POLCD-282687
22/10/1984ABBA - The AlbumRCA VAL1-0463938
22/10/1984ABBA - The AlbumRCA VAK1-04634,805
01/06/1990ABBA - The AlbumPolyGram 821217-21,817
01/09/1991ABBA - The AlbumPolyGram 3199180247
05/10/1992ABBA - The AlbumPolyGram 821217-4116
30/07/1984Voulez-VousPolar POLCD-292998
07/05/1990Voulez-VousPolyGram 821320-23,753
01/07/1991Voulez-VousPolyGram 3100510189
01/02/1993Voulez-VousPolyGram 821320-476
12/11/1979Greatest Hits Vol.2RCA VPK1-419752,4511st release
24/10/1983Greatest Hits Vol.2Polar POLCD-3121,365
04/07/1988Greatest Hits Vol.2RCA SPCD-10404,767
04/07/1988Greatest Hits Vol.2RCA SPCK-10405,992
07/05/1990Greatest Hits Vol.2PolyGram 800012-23,062
07/05/1990Greatest Hits Vol.2PolyGram 800012-482
24/10/1983Super TrouperPolar POLCD-3221,067
12/03/1990Super TrouperPolyGram 800023-210,346
01/07/1991Super TrouperPolyGram 3100578115
05/10/1992Super TrouperPolyGram 800023-4970
24/10/1983The VisitorsPolar POLCD-3421,263
16/04/1990The VisitorsPolyGram 800011-22,967
05/10/1992The VisitorsPolyGram 800011-4116
13/12/1982ABBA - The SinglesRCA VPL2-664832,2941st release
13/12/1982ABBA - The SinglesRCA VPK2-664829,6681st release
12/03/1990ABBA - The SinglesPolyGram 810050-26,018
07/05/1990ABBA - The SinglesPolyGram 810050-4192
29/09/1986ABBA LiveRCA VPL1-67251,8531st release
29/09/1986ABBA LiveRCA VPK1-67252,8401st release
17/11/1986ABBA LivePolar POLCD-4121,0901st release
09/04/1990ABBA LivePolyGram 829951-22,193
19/04/1993ABBA Live in ConcertPolyGram VVD-11305,721
15/08/1989The CollectionCastle CCSLP-1761,014
15/08/1989The CollectionCastle CCSMC-1767,067
15/08/1989The CollectionCastle CCSCD-1765,540
26/11/1990The SongbookPolyGram 847265-211,530
26/11/1990The SongbookPolyGram 847265-45,624
26/10/1992ABBA GoldPolyGram 517275-2360,990
26/10/1992ABBA GoldPolyGram 517275-4126,992
08/10/1992ABBA GoldPolyGram 085548-336,856
24/02/1993ABBA GoldPolyGram 517007-596
12/10/1992Dancing QueenPolyGram 863734-24,715Re-release
12/10/1992Dancing QueenPolyGram 863734-44,501Re-release
19/07/1993More ABBA GoldPolyGram 519353-217,787
19/07/1993More ABBA GoldPolyGram 519353-45,489
19/07/1993More ABBA GoldPolyGram 519353-513
19/07/1993More ABBA GoldPolyGram 087380-35,464
04/07/1994Agnetha & Frida: The Voice of ABBAPolyGram 550212-21,584
04/07/1994Agnetha & Frida: The Voice of ABBAPolyGram 550212-282
07/11/1994Thank You ABBAPolyGram 632382-39,032
14/11/1994Thank You For The MusicPolyGram 523472-25,936
24/10/1983Something's Going OnPolar POLCD-355541
26/04/1993Something's Going OnPolyGram 800102-2538
26/04/1993Wrap Your Arms Around MePolyGram 813242-2822
26/04/1993ShinePolyGram 823580-2464
26/04/1993Eyes Of A WomanPolyGram 825600-2732
23/02/1987The Way You AreFestival K203640
18/04/1988I Stand AloneWEA 2422313,354LP, MC, CD
18/04/1988The Last TimeWEA 2480872,3303" CD, 12", 7"
18/07/1988I Wasn't The OneWEA 24793098712", 7"
29/09/2017PianoDeutsche Grammophon1,009First Week Sales
29/09/2017PianoDeutsche Grammophon472Second Week Sales

Maintained by Trent Nickson.
Last updated: 11 October 2021.