ABBA reunion for Christmas Number One? New songs tipped for festive top spot

ABBA are confirmed to be releasing two brand new songs later this year, and the fact they’re due in the run-up to Christmas has not gone unnoticed by bookies.

In fact, the group have been given odds of 10/1 by Coral to go all the way.

“ABBA were a constant fixture at the top of the charts in the 70s and 80s, and the timing of the new release leaves us with a sneaky suspicion they’ll be targeting the big one in the shape of Christmas Number One,” a spokesperson for the company said.

“It’s certainly impossible to rule out.”

Ed Sheeran, who won the race last year with his track Perfect, is the current frontrunner to do it once again - he has odds of 5/1.

Adele has 25/1 odds, and The Pogues - who make an annual habit of reappearing on the Christmas charts with Fairytale of New York - are at 50/1.

It was late April when ABBA announced that they had already recorded two new songs; their first in 35 years.

The iconic quartet - Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - revealed in a statement today that the “unexpected” new tracks were “joyous” to create.

“The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence,” they said in a statement.

“We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did.”

They added: “And it was like time had stood still and that we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyous experience.

“It resulted in two new songs and one of them, I Still Have Faith In You will be performed by or digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December.

“We may have been old, but the song is new. And it feels good.”

Another musical movie based on their hits, Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, is due out next month.