ABBA Voyage grossed more than £100million last year, it’s been revealed.
The virtual concert residency, which features digital avatars depicting the Swedish pop icons as they appeared in 1979, attracted over a million visitors in 2023, bringing in over £100m (€120m) altogether over 374 performances.
This is according to documents filed in the UK with Companies House by Aniara, the company behind the shows.
A total of 1,097,597 visitors attended the shows across 2023, with an occupancy rate of 97.8%. Revenue from ticket sales was £103,665,597, with a pre-tax profit of £6,065,402. This is more than double the £2,990,757 made in 2022, when the residency was on for seven months of the year.
The show, which is held at the purpose-built 3,000-capacity ABBA Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, made its debut in May 2022.
The report reads, “During the period, the group successfully operated the ABBA Voyage show, building on the critical acclaim received following its launch in May 2022. There is a substantial market demand for ABBA Voyage and the directors anticipate a continued high level of activity throughout 2024.
“The group’s long-term strategy is to continue the run of the show in London for as long as it remains commercially viable.”
Standard tickets for the shows, in which the avatars are supported by a 10-piece live band, range in price from £27.50 to £319.50.
Reviewing the first night of the show on May 27, 2022, NME gave it five stars and called it “an epic avatar mega-mix from a brave new world,” and said, “Ageing rockers and poppers are bound to imitate the idea, but it’ll be a struggle to come close to the experience of ABBA Voyage. We for one welcome our new ABBAtar overlords, if only for giving these songs back to us in a totally new and joyful way.”
Meanwhile, ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus remarried last month in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Sandi Toksvig officiating, while in August the band demanded that Donald Trump stop using their music at rallies.
