"Mamma Mia!" Soundtrack Lands in Top Ten on Billboard Chart

By Andrew Gans
July 17, 2008

The soundtrack for the new movie musical "Mamma Mia!" — which opens nationwide July 18 — finds itself among the top ten highest sellers in the current Billboard 200 Chart.

The recording — on the Decca label — is currently the seventh best-selling recording. Others in the top ten include Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III," Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends," the "Camp Rock" soundtrack, Beck's "Modern Guilt," Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus," "Now 28," Rihanna's "Good Girl Gone Bad," G Unit's "T*O*S (Terminate On Sight)" and John Mayer's "Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles."

The "Mamma Mia!" soundtrack arrived in stores July 8. Variety reports that the single CD has already sold 48,000 units.

The film, like the musical, features the songs of ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Andersson and Ulvaeus reunited in Stockholm with the musicians who played on the original ABBA songs to record the orchestrations in February 2007.

The film's actors recorded their vocals in London in April 2007 prior to the commencement of principal photography.

The complete track listing for "Mamma Mia!" follows:
"Honey, Honey" (Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Lilley & Rachel McDowall)
"Money, Money, Money" (Meryl Streep, Julie Walters & Christine Baranski)
"Mamma Mia" (Meryl Streep)
"Dancing Queen" (Meryl Streep, Julie Walters & Christine Baranski)
"Our Last Summer" (Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgard, Amanda Seyfried & Meryl Streep)
"Lay All Your Love on Me" (Dominic Cooper & Amanda Seyfried)
"Super Trouper" (Meryl Streep, Julie Walters & Christine Baranski)
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" (A Man After Midnight) (Amanda Seyfried, Ashley Lilley & Rachel McDowall)
"The Name of the Game" (Amanda Seyfried)
"Voulez-Vous" (Full cast, Philip Michael, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters & Stellan Skarsgard)
"SOS" (Pierce Brosnan & Meryl Streep)
"Does Your Mother Know" (Christine Baranski & Philip Michael)
"Slipping Through My Fingers" (Meryl Streep & Amanda Seyfried)
"The Winner Takes It All" (Meryl Streep)
"When All is Said and Done" (Pierce Brosnan & Meryl Streep)
"Take a Chance on Me" (Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard, Colin Firth, Philip Michael & Christine Baranski)
"I Have a Dream" (Amanda Seyfried)

The film stars Academy Award winner Meryl Streep as mom Donna Sheridan with Pierce Brosnan, Amanda Seyfried, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Stellan Skarsgard and Dominic Cooper. The film was directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who is making her feature-film debut. Lloyd helmed both the London and Broadway mountings of Mamma Mia!

Using the back catalogue of 70s pop group ABBA, Johnson's plot tells the story of bride-to-be Sophie Sheridan, who hopes to discover her father's identity on the eve of her wedding. She brings three men from her mother Donna's past back to the Greek island they last visited 20 years previously.

The show and film feature music and lyrics by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. Since the original London production opened in 1999, the musical has grossed over $2 billion worldwide.

The film, according to the Universal Pictures website, is described as such: "An independent, single mother who owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends-practical and no-nonsense Rosie (Julie Walters) and wealthy, multi-divorcee Tanya (Christine Baranski)-from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited three guests of her own.

"On a quest to find the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past to the Mediterranean paradise they visited 20 years earlier. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities."

For more information visit www.universalpictures.com.