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AUCTION

Abba’s old BMW brings in the money, money, money at auction

Mamma mia! A BMW that once was used by Swedish pop icons Abba around has sold at an auction in Paris.

Abba's old BMW brings in the money, money, money at auction
Abba in their heyday. Photo: TT

A BMW 633 that once belonged to Abba has sold for €34,500 (341,000 kronor) at auction house Sotheby's.

The special piece of automotive heritage, as Sotheby's put it, pulled in beyond initial estimates of 210,000 to 300,000 kronor. 

The BMW followed the band around on European tours in the seventies and was used as a standby vehicle for band members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.

It was ordered in Polaris Silver (060) over black leather with a four-speed manual gearbox, the auction house wrote.

The bodywork of the vehicle and its interior are unmarked and it still has its rare TRX alloy wheels, the auctioneers said. 

It came with copies of the original documents signed by Ulvaeus and Andersson.

To see more pictures of the car, see the full listing from Sotheby's here

The sale marks the second time this year that an auction has seen pop stars, Sweden, and auctioned cars crop up in the headlines. Indeed, David Bowie's Volvo 262C pulled in a pretty penny last month when it sold for $216,000.  

ABBA

ABBA’s first album in 40 years shoots to the top of the UK charts

ABBA's first studio album in nearly 40 years has made it to the top of the UK charts, becoming the fastest seller of the year so far, the Official Charts Company said on Friday.

ABBA's first album in 40 years shoots to the top of the UK charts
ABBA's new album, 'Voyage' for sale in Stockholm at the start of this month. Photo: Jonatan Nackstrand/AFP

“Voyage” by the Swedish quartet of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid racked up 204,000 chart sales in the seven days since it was launched last Friday.

Sales gave the supergroup the biggest opening week on the UK album chart in four years since Ed Sheeran’s “Divide”, and fastest-selling album by a group in eight years.

The last fastest-seller was One Direction’s “Midnight Memories” in November 2013.

READ ALSO: Abba’s new album has arrived – tell us, what do you think?

ABBA, propelled to global fame by their 1974 Eurovision Song Contest win with “Waterloo”, split in 1982, a year after their last album, “The Visitors”.

“Voyage” is their 10th number one album in the UK: only seven other acts — The Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Robbie Williams, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie — have had more.

The group said in a statement: “We are so happy that our fans seem to have enjoyed our new album as much as we enjoyed making it.

“We are absolutely over the moon to have an album at the top of the charts again.”

The 204,000 sales comprise 90 percent physical copies, including 29,900 on vinyl, making it the fastest-selling vinyl release of the 21st century.

The previous record holder was the Arctic Monkeys’ “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino”, which sold 24,500 vinyl copies in 2018.

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