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

1. "Voulez-Vous Danser"
2. "All That She Wants"
3. "Münchhausen (Just Chaos)"
4. "Happy Nation (Faded Edit)"
5. "Waiting for Magic"
6. "Fashion Party"
7. "Wheel of Fortune"
8. "Dancer in a Daydream"
9. "My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
10. "Wheel of Fortune" (Original Club Mix)
11. "Dimension of Depth" (Instrumental)
12. "Young and Proud"
13. "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

1. "All That She Wants"
2. "Don't Turn Around"
3. "Young and Proud"
4. "The Sign"
5. "Living in Danger"
6. "Voulez-Vous Danser" (New Version)
7. "Happy Nation (Faded Edit)"
8. "Hear Me Calling"
9. "Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
10. "Fashion Party"
11. "Wheel of Fortune"
12. "Dancer In a Daydream"
13. "My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
14. "All That She Wants" (Banghra Version)
15. "Happy Nation" (Remix)

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

1. "All That She Wants"
2. "Don't Turn Around"
3. "Young and Proud"
4. "The Sign"
5. "Living in Danger"
6. "Dancer In a Daydream"
7. "Wheel of Fortune"
8. "Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
9. "Happy Nation"
10. "Voulez-Vous Danser" (New Version)
11. "My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
12. "All That She Wants" (Banghra Version)

Brazilian Track listing

1. "All That She Wants"
2. "Don't Turn Around"
3. "Young and Proud"
4. "The Sign"
5. "Living in Danger"
6. "Voulez-vous danser" (New version)
7. "Happy Nation"
8. "Hear me calling"
9. "Waiting for Magic" (Total Remix 7")
10. "Fashion party"
11. "Wheel of Fortune"
12. "Dancer In a Daydream"
13. "My Mind" (Mindless Mix)
14. "All That She Wants" (Banghra Version) - Exclusively available for CD format
15. "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

Chart	Peak position
Argentinian Albums Chart	1
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	9
Austrian Albums Chart	3
Canadian Albums Chart	1
Danish Albums Chart	1
Dutch Albums Chart	2
French Albums Chart	1
German Albums Chart	1
Greek Albums Chart	1
Hungarian Albums Chart	1

Chart	Peak position
Israeli Albums Chart	1
Japanese Albums Chart	1
New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart	1
Norwegian Albums Chart	1
Portuguese Albums Chart	1
Spanish Albums Chart	5
Swiss Albums Chart	2
Swedish Albums Chart	3
UK Albums Chart	1
US Billboard 200	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 ,

See also

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