ABBA Given Special Award by King of Sweden
The four members of the Swedish pop group ABBA have been given prestigious knighthoods by the King of Sweden.
The Order of the Vasa was given for the first time in almost 50 years. Agnetha Faltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were recognized for their contributions to music in Sweden and across the world.
They were all given a title called "Commander of the First Class."
Earlier this year, candidates for national awards were nominated by the public and the Swedish government.
The king approved the nominees that included the ABBA members.
The four stars have been known across the world since the 1970s when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song "Waterloo."
ABBA is one of the most successful pop groups in the history of music.
The band has sold hundreds of millions of records across the world. The stage musical Mamma Mia!, based on ABBA's songs, is 25 years old and there have also been two movies of the same name.
Awards were given to the four band members, and nine other Swedes, in a ceremony at the Royal Palace that was shown on TV.
Andersson, Faltskog, Lyngstad — who now uses the last name Reuss — and Ulvaeus were thanked by the king when they got their awards.
The band members, who are now aged between 74 and 79, have not performed together live since the early 1980s, but released an album called Voyage in 2021.
In 2022, avatars of the band — known as "ABBA-tars" — began performing in London.
