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<h1>The Winner Takes It All</h1><h2>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</h2><h2><img src="https://singsnap.imgix.net/message-board/threads/0DNH/20a146d0fb_DLOY_media.png"></h2><h2>"<strong>The Winner Takes It All</strong>" is a song recorded by the Swedish pop group <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABBA" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ABBA</a>. Released as the first single from the group's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Trouper_(album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Super Trouper</em></a> album on 21 July 1980, it is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad_(music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ballad</a> in the key of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-sharp_major" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">F-sharp major</a>, reflecting on the end of a relationship. The single's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-side_and_B-side" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">B-side</a> was the non-album track "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_(song)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elaine</a>". It was the group's first single after a seven-month hiatus and peaked at No.1 in several countries, including the UK, where it became their eighth chart-topper. It was also the group's final top 10 hit in the United States.</h2><h2><br></h2><h2>History</h2><p>"The Winner Takes It All" was written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Ulvaeus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Björn Ulvaeus</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Andersson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Benny Andersson</a>, with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnetha_F%C3%A4ltskog" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Agnetha Fältskog</a> singing the lead vocal.</p><p>Ulvaeus and Andersson started writing the song in the summer of 1979 in a cottage on the island of Viggsö. According to Andersson, the idea for the song suddenly came up "from old ideas, from old small musical pieces" they had. The demo had an original title of "The Story of My Life" and the first arrangement for the song was uptempo with a constant beat. However, they felt their first effort "much too stiff and metrical", so they left the song for a few days while they worked on other songs. Four days later they returned to the song, and Andersson came up the idea of using a French <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">chanson</a>-stye arrangement with a descending piano line and a looser structure. Ulvaeus then recorded a demo using nonsense French words for lyrics, and took the recording home to write the lyrics for "The Winner Takes It All". According to Ulvaeus, he drank whiskey while he was writing, and it was the quickest lyrics he ever wrote. He said, "I was drunk, and the whole lyric came to me in a rush of emotion in one hour." Ulvaeus said that when he gave the lyrics to Fältskog to read, "a tear or two welled up in her eyes. Because the words really affected her."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winner_Takes_It_All#cite_note-palm-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a></p><p>Ulvaeus denies the song is about his and Fältskog's divorce, saying the basis of the song "is the experience of a divorce, but it's fiction. 'Cause one thing I can say is that there wasn't a winner or a loser in our case. A lot of people think it's straight out of reality, but it's not".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winner_Takes_It_All#cite_note-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> However, Ulvaeus admitted that the heartache of their breakup inspired the song, but noted that the words in the song should not be taken literally.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winner_Takes_It_All#cite_note-palm-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a> He said: "Neither Agnetha nor I were winners in our divorce."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winner_Takes_It_All#cite_note-bbc_top5-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a> American critic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Klosterman" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chuck Klosterman</a>, who says "The Winner Takes It All" is "[the only] pop song that examines the self-aware guilt one feels when talking to a person who has humanely obliterated your heart" finds Ulvaeus' denial hard to believe in light of the original title.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winner_Takes_It_All#cite_note-Klosterman_quote-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a> And the booklet for the double CD compilation <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Definitive_Collection_(ABBA_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Definitive Collection</a> states "'The Winner Takes It All' is the song where Bjorn admits that the sad experience of his and Agnetha's divorce the previous year left its mark on the lyrics."</p><p>Fältskog has also repeatedly stated that though "The Winner Takes It All" is her favourite ABBA song and that it has an excellent set of lyrics, the story is not that of her and Ulvaeus: there were no winners in their divorce, especially as children were involved.^[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^{<em>citation needed</em>}</a>^]</p><p>In a 1999 poll for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_5_(UK)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Channel 5</a>, "The Winner Takes It All" was voted Britain's favourite ABBA song. This feat was replicated in a 2010 poll for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITV_(TV_network)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ITV</a>. In a 2006 poll for a Channel Five programme, "The Winner Takes It All" was voted "Britain's Favourite Break-Up Song."</p><h2><br></h2><h2>Reception</h2><p>"The Winner Takes It All" was a major success for ABBA, hitting No. 1 in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It reached the Top 5 in Austria, Finland, France, West Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Zimbabwe, while peaking in the Top 10 in Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain and the United States (where it became ABBA's fourth and final American Top 10 hit, peaking at No. 8; the song spent 26 weeks on the <em>Billboard</em> Hot 100 chart, more than any other ABBA single).</p>