More than four decades after its release, Abba's 'Waterloo' remains one of the most downloaded Eurovision-winning songs, according to digital sales data from Nielsen Music. The track has been downloaded over 450,000 times in the past decade, placing it third among Eurovision winners in digital sales.
Only two songs have outperformed 'Waterloo': Loreen's 'Euphoria', which won for Sweden in 2012 with 1.1 million digital sales, and Lena Meyer-Landrut's 'Satellite', the 2010 German winner with 644,000 sales. The data covers 21 countries from mid-2005 to early May 2016.
Cross-European popularity is key to commercial success, with English-language songs dominating the top 11 most-downloaded winners. Helena Kosinski of Nielsen Music notes that songs sung in English are the biggest sellers overall. Germany, the UK, and the US are crucial markets for international hits.
On Spotify, 'Euphoria' also leads with nearly 100 million plays, followed by 'Heroes' (75.4 million), 'Only Teardrops' (25.2 million), and 'Satellite' (22.8 million). 'Waterloo' ranks fifth with 15.1 million plays. The only non-English song in the top 10 is Carola's 1991 Swedish winner 'Fångad av en Stormvind'.
The data shows a bias towards Western Europe, as Nielsen's markets are all in that region and Spotify is unavailable in parts of Eastern Europe. Nevertheless, the enduring popularity of 'Waterloo' in the US, with nearly 250,000 downloads since 2004, highlights its lasting appeal.
