“Mamma Mia! takes enchanting ownership of what it is; a stage musical that made a big ol’ heap of money, shoved onto the big screen to make a whole lot more” (Taylor 2008). Mamma Mia! was the 5th highest-grossing movie of 2008, earning a total of $609,841,637 (Box Office Mojo n.d.). It took 5 weeks, but the soundtrack of the movie reached #1 on the Billboard 200 while the original cast soundtrack from the Broadway musical also continued to chart highly on Top Cast Albums. The cast album would remain on the charts for 71 weeks. ABBA never had a top 10 album on the Billboard 200, the highest-charting set is 1978’s “The Album,” which peaked at No. 14 (Hasty 2008). However, the group is No. 1 on Top Pop Catalog albums with its 1992 greatest hits package “Gold,” which jumps 37% to 33,000 copies. The group had further success hitting a triple play- the soundtrack to the film, the original Broadway cast recording, and “ABBA: Gold” all topping their respective charts (Gans 2008).
The original ABBA recordings and the “Gold” album were the inspiration for the Broadway performance, which was then the inspiration for the 2008 film. As a result of how successful each of these mediums was, audiences of each would be able to go back and listen to the cast album for the stage play, the “Gold” album, or the movie soundtrack. All of this overlap would increase the number of streams and listeners of ABBA and their music (in any form), skyrocketing the success of all of the mediums (album, Broadway, film) utilizing the music of ABBA.