11 May 2024
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Fifty years ago on 6th April 1974, ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest and went on to become global superstars. To celebrate the anniversary of their historic win in Brighton, a three-stamp miniature sheet has been released by PostNord on the day of the anniversary.
The set of three stamps, designed by Eva Wilsson and using photos by Bubi Heilemann, Per Myrehed and ABBA Voyage, uses the band’s font and show the group in their costumes for the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 and the group as they are today.
Where can I get Waterloo 1974 Stamps?
The Waterloo 1974 stamps are available to purchase from the PostNord website for 54 Swedish Krona.
Who are ABBA?
Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid ‘Frida’ Lyngstad entered Melodifestivalen, the competition to select the Swedish entry got the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, with the song ‘Waterloo’. By the time of the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, the group had changed their name to ABBA, an acronym of their first names.
Who are PostNord?
PostNord is Sweden’s National postal service and a Nordic communications and logistics company, founded in 1636 by Axel Oxenstierna, the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden and was originally called Kungliga Postverket which translates to ‘The Royal Postal Agency’. PostNord was a government agency but in the 1990s it became a government-owned limited company. In 2015 the company was rebranded as PostNord after merging with Denmark’s postal service in 2009.
The Eurovision Song Contest 1974
Held in the Brighton Dome, ABBA won the international juries over with ‘Waterloo’, although they were awarded 0 points by a few of the voting juries, including that of the UK. ABBA won the night with 24 points and secured Sweden’s first Eurovision Song Contest win.
Above: The three-stamp miniature sheet, released by PostNord shows the group in their costumes for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and as they are today.
Beyond the Eurovision Song Contest
After the win ‘Waterloo’ hit number 1 in music charts all over Europe and made the US top 10. The album of the same name was also a huge hit in Sweden, however, their next major worldwide hit was ‘SOS’, from their third album ABBA.
By 1976, ABBA had established themselves as one of the most popular groups in the world, with songs being written and produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and vocally interpreted by Agnetha Fältskog and Frida Lyngstad. In 1982 the group took a recording break, but their popularity continued with audiences being reached through new mediums including Mamma Mia!, the musical based on their songs which premiered in 1999 and later the Mamma Mia! movie, starring Meryl Streep and Piers Brosnan.
In 2010 the group released their first studio album in 40 years, Voyage. The album was accompanied by a revolutionary concert ‘ABBA Voyage’, which saw the band performing digitally at a purpose built arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
Today, ABBA are regarded as one of the all-time classic pop acts and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
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