The Winner Takes It All

Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote the words of The Winner Takes It All in 1980, shortly after his divorce from Agnetha Faltskog, and she sang the lead; both have said the lyric is not a literal account, and both have named it their favourite among ABBA's recordings. Benny Andersson's arrangement builds from solo piano to full orchestration across five verses without a conventional chorus. It was the group's eighth British number one. The Swedish working title, The Story of My Life, was dropped before recording.