Super Trouper was a top-selling 1980 (see 1980 in music) album by Europop stars ABBA. Led by the international hit "Winner Takes It All", Super Trouper was their sixth British chart-topping album. Super Trouper was reissued in digitally remastered form twice; once in 1997, and again in 2001.

Track listing

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all songs by Andersson and Ulvaeus

1. "Super Trouper" - 4:11
2. "The Winner Takes It All" - 4:55
3. "On And On And On" - 3:40
4. "Andante, Andante" - 4:39
5. "Me And I" - 4:54
6. "Happy New Year" - 4:23
7. "Our Last Summer" - 4:19
8. "The Piper" - 3:26
9. "Lay All Your Love On Me" - 4:33
10. "The Way Old Friends Do" ^* - 2:57
11. "Elaine" - 3:44 track
12. "Put On Your White Sombrero" - 4:34 track

Personnel

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ABBA

• Benny Andersson - synthesizer, keyboards, vocals
• Agnetha Fältskog - vocals
• Anni-Frid Lyngstad - vocals
• Björn Ulvaeus - acoustic guitar, vocals

Additional personnel

• Ola Brunkert - drums
• Lars Carlsson - horn
• Anders Glenmark - guitar
• Rutger Gunnarsson - bass, guitar
• Janne Kling - flute, saxophone
• Per Lindvall - drums
• Janne Schaffer - guitar
• Ake Sundqvist - percussion
• Mike Watson - bass
• Lasse Wellander - guitar
• Kajtek Wojciechowski - saxophone

Production

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• Producers: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
• Engineer: Michael B. Tretow
• Arranger: Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Rutger Gunnarsson
• Design: Rune Soderqvist

Trivia

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The title track, after its success as a single in the United Kingdom, was parodied in a sketch on the BBC comedy programme, Not the Nine O'Clock News in 1981. The sketch comprised a very close musical parody of the song, called "Super Duper", with rather scathing words about Abba:

One of us is ugly, one of us is cute

One of us you'd like to see in her birthday suit

Two of us write music, two have way a song

Sorry, in translation, that line come out wrong

Anni-Frid, Benny, Björn, and Agnetha were played (in order) by Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson. The sketch was a very close parody of the video for "Super Trouper".

Super Trouper is a registered trademark owned by Strong Entertainment Lighting, for their brand of followspots, i.e., directional spotlights used to follow a performer on stage. A real life example: http://www.strongint.com/products/Strong_Follow_Spots/STShort/

Charts

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Album - UK Album Chart

Year	Chart	Position
1980	UK Album Chart	1 (9)

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1980	The Billboard 200	17

Singles - UK Singles Chart

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1980	"The Winner Takes It All"	UK Singles Chart	1 (2)
1980	"Super Trouper"	UK Singles Chart	1 (3)
1981	"Lay All Your Love On Me"	UK Singles Chart	7

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1980	"The Winner Takes It All"	The Billboard Hot 100	8
1980	"The Winner Takes It All"	Adult Contemporary	1
1980	"Lay All Your Love On Me/Super Trouper/On And On"	Club Play Singles	1
1981	"Super Trouper"	The Billboard Hot 100	45
1981	"Super Trouper"	Adult Contemporary	14
1981	"On And On And On"	The Billboard Hot 100	90

What is a super trouper? A trouper is a travelling entertainer or actor of long standing in the sense that it is used in the song. Specifically Abba had in mind a trapeze artist, as can be seen in videos of the song. The words of the song which go "beams are gonna blind me" refer to the spotlights which trapeze artistes have to cope with while they are swinging on the trapeze, the beams from which can blind them and make it difficult to see where they are going. This is the 'trouper' that Abba had in mind when they wrote the song. However, the name Super Trouper itself refers to a certain brand of spotight called 'the super trouper', which was known to Abba at the time they wrote the song.

ABBA albums | 1980 albums

Super Trouper | Super Trouper (ABBA) | Super Trouper (musikalbum)