From ABBA to Westlife – I Have a Dream Continues Its Success

Originally released in December 1979, ‘I Have a Dream’ became a worldwide hit at the end of that decade for ABBA. 20 years later, Westlife repeated worldwide success with a new version produced by Pete Waterman and Dan Frampton*.

Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the single was the fourth and final single off Voulez-Vous, ABBA’s sixth studio album. The b-side was a live version of ’Take a Chance on Me’ recorded at Wembley.

ABBA – I Have a Dream (Live Version Wembley Arena 1979)

Peak positions for ‘I Have a Dream’ (ABBA):

• Australia: 64
• Austria: 1
• Canada: 1
• The Netherlands: 1
• Ireland: 2
• Switzerland: 1
• UK: 2

Westlife – I Have a Dream

In December 1999, the track returned in a new version by Westlife. The new version was produced by Pete Waterman – one third of the hugely successful production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman – together with David Foster. The latter has produced artists such as Will Young, Rick Astley and Five.

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Read everything about Westlife

Westlife’s version reached No.1, becoming the boy band’s fourth chart-topper in the UK. It was a double A-side single, also including a cover of Jacques Brel’s 1961 hit ‘Seasons in the Sun’ which was made famous by Terry Jacks in 1973.

The 1999 version was the UK Christmas No.1, continuing its chart-run into 2000 – a new millennium. In total, it spent 17 weeks on the chart becoming the 26^th biggest selling single of 1999. The hit was succeeded by Bob the Builder’s novelty hit ‘Can We Fix It?’

Peak positions for ‘I Have a Dream’ (Westlife):

• Denmark: 11
• Europe: 7
• Finland: 10
• Germany: 24
• Ireland: 1
• New Zealand: 10
• Norway: 10
• Scotland: 1
• Sweden: 15
• Switzerland: 18
• UK: 1

*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this blog post, David Foster was pointed out as the producer of the Westlife track. Apologies for that.