Happy Nation

Infobox Album |
Name = Happy Nation
Type = Album
Artist = Ace of Base


Released = February 19, 1993
Recorded = 1991, 1992
Genre = Dance/Reggae
Length =
Label = Festival
Warner Bros.
Producer = Denniz PoP, Jonas Berggren, Ulf Ekberg
Reviews =
Last album =
This album = "Happy Nation"
(1992) / "The Sign"
(1993)
Next

Next album = The Bridge
(1995)

"Happy Nation" is the debut album of Ace of Base, a pop music group based in Sweden. It was released in early 1993 in Europe and Latin America. The album once held the world record as the highest-selling debut album of all time, a title which it has since relinquished. It reached the number one position in at least 14 countries, and an estimated total of 20 million copies have been sold.

A second release in Europe, "Happy Nation U.S. Version", came on September 25, 1993, to coincide with the album's release in North America under the title name, "The Sign". "The Sign" was released in North America on November 23 1993 with four brand new tracks.

Several songs on the album, including "The Sign", "All That She Wants" and "Don't Turn Around", were #1 singles in the United States and all over Europe.

Track listing

# "Voulez-Vous Danser"
# "All That She Wants"
# "Münchhausen (Just Chaos)"
# "Happy Nation (Faded Edit)"
# "Waiting for Magic"
# "Fashion Party"
# "Wheel of Fortune"
# "Dancer in a Daydream"
# "My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
# "Wheel of Fortune" (Original Club Mix)
# "Dimension of Depth" (Instrumental)
# "Young and Proud"
# "All That She Wants" (Banghra Version)

Happy Nation U.S. version

"Happy Nation" was re-released in Europe only, as "Happy Nation (US Version)" on September 25, 1993, to coincide with the American version of the album titled "The Sign" released in the Western Hemisphere on November 23 of that same year. Three new tracks were added to the American version, Don't Turn Around, The Sign, Living in Danger, while "Happy Nation (US Version)" contained four new songs, Don't Turn Around, The Sign, Living in Danger, Hear Me Calling, and a bonus remix for the track Happy Nation. The re-release climbed to number one in the UK Albums Chart, beating the number 21 peak of the original release. Happy Nation U.S. Version has the same cover as The Sign.

Track listing

# "All That She Wants"
#"Don't Turn Around"
#"Young and Proud"
#"The Sign"
#"Living in Danger"
#"Voulez-Vous Danser" (New Version)
# "Happy Nation (Faded Edit)"
#"Hear Me Calling"
# "Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
#"Fashion Party"
#"Wheel of Fortune"
#"Dancer In a Daydream"
#"My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
#"All That She Wants" (Banghra Version)
#"Happy Nation" (Remix)

Infobox Album
Name = The Sign
Type = Album
Artist = Ace of Base


Released = November 23, 1993
Recorded = 1993
Genre = Pop/Dance
Length =
Label = Festival
Warner Bros. (1993-1994)
Arista (1994 Deluxe)
Producer = Denniz PoP, Jonas Berggren, Ulf Ekberg
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:4gdovwxta9yk link]
*Review-Christgau|hm3|album=21
Last album = "Happy Nation" (1992)
This album = "The Sign"
(1993)
Next album = "The Bridge" (1995)

The Sign

Only released in the US, Canada, Japan and some Latin American countries (such as Argentina and Brazil, where the band reached significant success).

Track listing

#"All That She Wants"
#"Don't Turn Around"
#"Young and Proud"
#"The Sign"
#"Living in Danger"
#"Dancer In a Daydream"
#"Wheel of Fortune"
#"Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
#"Happy Nation"
#"Voulez-Vous Danser" (New Version)
#"My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
#"All That She Wants" (Banghra Version)

Brazilian Track listing

#"All That She Wants"
#"Don't Turn Around"
#"Young and Proud"
#"The Sign"
#"Living in Danger"
#"Voulez-vous danser" (New version)
#"Happy Nation"
#"Hear me calling"
#"Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
#"Fashion party"
#"Wheel of Fortune"
#"Dancer In a Daydream"
#"My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
#"All That She Wants" (Banghra Version) - Exclusively available for CD format
#"Happy nation" (Remix) - Exclusively available for CD format

In Brazil, BMG/Arista decided to release a mix version, using as basis both US version and the European re-release. The final result was an album entitled 'The Sign/Happy Nation US Version'. Three formats were released: LP (13 tracks) and Cassette/CD (15 tracks). Six songs were highly airplayed in the country, being Happy nation, All that she wants, Don't turn around and The sign major hits, while Living in danger and Wheel of forturne were minor hits.

Singles

Happy Nation

*Wheel of Fortune (Europe)
*All That She Wants (International)
*Happy Nation (Europe)
*Waiting for Magic (Scandinavia)

Happy Nation U.S. version (re-release) / The Sign

*All That She Wants (International)
*The Sign (International)
*Don't Turn Around (International)
*Living in Danger (International)
*Happy Nation (Australia & UK & Germany)

Charts

{|class="wikitable sortable"!align="left"|Chart!align="center"|Peak
position
-
align="left"|Israeli Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|Japanese Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|Norwegian Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|Portuguese Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|Spanish Albums Chart
align="center"|5
-
align="left"|Swiss Albums Chart
align="center"|2
-
align="left"|Swedish Albums Chart
align="center"|3
-
align="left"|UK Albums Chart
align="center"|1
-
align="left"|US Billboard 200
align="center"|1
-

Platinum & Gold Awards

*Argentina: 4x platinum (160,000+ units sold) (for 'The Sign')
*Australia: platinum (70,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Austria: platinum (30,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Belgium: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Brazil: gold (for 'The Sign')
*Canada: diamond (1,000,000+ units sold) (for 'The Sign')
*Chile: 2x platinum (for 'The Sign')
*China: platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Czech Republic: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Denmark: 4x platinum (160,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Finland: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*France: diamond (1,000,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Germany: 3x platinum (900,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*India: platinum (200,000(?)+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Indonesia: 4x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Ireland: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Italy: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Greece: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Japan: 4x platinum (487,290 units sold)(for 'The Sign')
*Korea: 7x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Mexico: 3x platinum (750,000+ units sold) (for 'The Sign')
*Netherlands: 2x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*New Zealand: 3x platinum (45,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*Norway: 2x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Portugal: platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Singapore: 3x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Spain: platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Sweden: 2x platinum (for 'Happy Nation')
*Switzerland: 2x platinum (80,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*South Africa: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*Thailand: gold (for 'Happy Nation')
*United Kingdom: 2x platinum (600,000+ units sold) (for 'Happy Nation')
*United States: 9x platinum (9,000,000+ units sold) (for 'The Sign')

References [http://www.aceofbase.com/en/main.php?sida=sales] , [http://www.riaa.com/gp/database/default.asp]

ee also

List of number-one albums from the 1990s (UK)

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before = "Superunknown" by Soundgarden
title = "Billboard" 200 number-one album
years = April 2 - April 8 1994
June 11 - June 17 1994
after = "Far Beyond Driven" by Panterasuccession box
before = "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?"
by The Cranberries
title = UK number one album
years = July 2, 1994 – July 15, 1994
after = "Music for the Jilted Generation" by The Prodigy