The Norwegian synth-pop group A-ha was founded in Oslo in 1982. The group gained notoriety in the middle of the 1980s and was founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars, and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals).
In 1985, A-ha released their debut album, Hunting High and Low, which was their biggest commercial triumph. The album produced two international number-one singles, “Take On Me” and “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.,” and it garnered the band a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Act. It also peaked at number one in their home Norway, number two in the UK, and number 15 on the US Billboard album chart. Hunting High and Low, one of the best-selling albums of 1986 in the UK, maintained its chart success the following year. With single singles including “Hunting High and Low,” “The Living Daylights,” “Stay on These Roads,” and “Crying in the Rain,” the band released studio albums in 1986, 1988, and 1990. The band took a break in 1994 when their fifth studio album, Memorial Beach (1993), failed to enjoy the same level of economic success as their earlier releases.
The band’s most recent album, True North, was published on October 21, 2022. They have released eleven studio albums, several compilations, and four live albums. One of the top 40 to 50 highest-grossing bands in the world, the band made an estimated 500 million Norwegian kroner in less than a year in 2010 from concert tickets, merchandise, and the release of a greatest hits album. The band earned a spot in the Guinness World Records book for drawing the largest paid rock concert crowd; they played to a crowd of 198,000 during the Rock in Rio festival at Maracan Stadium. They have a total album and single sales of more than 100 million units.