a-ha: ranking highs and lows (2026)

31/05/2026

"Believe me / The vote always counts on T.V"

Dear A-ha friends,

we're preparing for the a-ha fan convention in Nottingham in less than two weeks (Will we be hosting a quiz there? You betcha!), but we've also started thinking about new podcast episodes.

One of them will of course be based on results from The Big 2026 a-ha Fan Survey that many of you participated in, but since we're so excited about it we thought we'd drip-feed a couple of statistics ✅✔

How about this one? We asked you - the fans - to choose the a-ha song that best sums up the band for you, and we made sure to stress that it didn't have to be your favourite song, but just the song that best defines a-ha's sound and/or identity.

Well, the results are in, and a total of 75 songs were listed among the 768 valid responses!! That's too many to write up, but we can manage top 20. Alright, here we go:

20. East of the Sun (0.7%)
19. Analogue (0.8%)
16. Cast In Steel (0.9%)
16. Minor Earth Major Sky (0.9%)
16: Rolling Thunder (0.9%)
15: Here I Stand and Face the Rain (1.0%)
14: True North (1.4%)
13: Out of Blue Comes Green (1.6%)
12: Foot of the Mountain (2.3%)
11: Living A Boy's Adventure Tale (3.6%)
10: Summer Moved On (3.8%)
8. I've Been Losing You (4.4%)
8: The Swing of Things (4.4%)
7. Manhattan Skyline (5.1%)
6. Stay On These Roads (5.5%)
5. Lifelines (5.7%)
4. Hunting High and Low (6.4%)
3. Take On Me (7.6%)
2. Scoundrel Days (10.9%)
1. The Sun Always Shines On T.V. (17.7%)

There were only a few statistically significant differences (95% confidence):

Female fans were significantly more likely to choose Take On Me and True North (no male fans voted for True North).

Male fans were significantly more likely to choose Living A Boy's Adventure Tale.

Whether you agree with the list or not, I think most of us will recognise that it's a fantastic top 20 to put on a mixtape in an attempt to convert those friends who haven't understood a-ha's brilliance yet :)

Stay tuned for more!

All the best,

JP, Jesper, and Peter the Producer

"My vote was this..."

Morten Harket Magne Furuholmen Waaktaar

30/05/2026

Buy "Lesson One - What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life" here: www.linktr.ee/lessonone

Follow a-ha: ranking highs and lows for more a-ha podcasts and fan statistics

A-ha Morten Harket Waaktaar Magne Furuholmen Stian Andersen Classic Pop Magazine Ørjan Nilsson

25/05/2026

"Gender differences that run too deep"

Dear A-ha friends,

A huge thank you to everyone who joined 'The Big 2026 a-ha Fan Survey'. We had almost 800 complete responses, and we can't wait to dive into the data and see what it tells us about the a-ha fan community anno 2026.

So while we stop! and make our minds up about how to share the data in an engaging way (podcast, articles, reels, or a 4-hour long feature film in a cinema near you??), we thought we should repay you just a little by sharing the first piece of data.

The question was: "Which of the following official live releases is your favourite?" 🎸🎹🎙🎵

And the answer is, that the OVERALL favourite official live release among a-ha fans - perhaps unsurprisingly - was "MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice" (with 27.4% of the total votes), followed by "Live at Valhall - Homecoming" (19.2%) and "a-ha Live in South America" (18.6%).

However, some clear gender differences emerged in preferences:

Female fans were significantly more likely than male fans to favour "MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice", while male fans were significantly more likely to prefer both "a-ha Live in South America" and "How Can I Sleep With Your Voice in My Head".

One should always be careful with reading too much into data like this, but the results do suggest that female fans overall gravitate more towards the reflective, acoustic and orchestral reinterpretations, whereas male fans showed a stronger preference for the more energetic and rock-oriented live recordings. But yes, there are of course many fans who don't fit into this description, but we're painting with broad strokes here 🎨🖌

Much more to come at some point - both about preferences, experiences, collector behaviour, and much, much more.

Oh, and 0.4% of the survey participants said about our podcast: "I have listened and don't really like it". We promise to do our best to improve!! 😋

All the best,

JP, Jesper, and Peter the Producer

"Is it live or just to play my surveys away?"

17/05/2026

"It matters what you say / It matters that you vote away"

Dear A-ha friends,

We're overwhelmed by the interest in "The Big 2026 a-ha Survey" already! With the survey, we're trying to take the temperature on the a-ha fan community anno 2026 to understand who we all are:

How old are a-ha fans? What's the split between female and male fans? How many have an a-ha tattoo? What is everyone's favourite a-ha era? When did we become fans? How often do we listen to a-ha? Has their music helped us through difficult times? And much, much more. It's all in the survey.

Many of you have already participated and cast your votes (some set in stone and cast in steel, some a bit more hesitant). Thank you for that! 🙏☺

We still want to get the survey out to as many fans as we possibly can to get a nuanced picture. So please, share this post with fellow fans - if you think it's appropriate, of course - and let them know about it. The link to the survey is here and in the comments: https://forms.gle/o1MFvW1WdftKnFGZ6

We will leave the survey open until Sunday 24 May 2026 at 3pm CET. So, to quote a song from the recently re-issued Analogue album:

"Take your time / Make it soon"

We're still considering how to make the results available to the fan community, but it WILL become available 😊 Perhaps as a podcast, perhaps as a written analysis. We'll see - and so will you!

Thank you as always for the support! And while you're waiting you can of course still buy JP's new book "Lesson One: What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life". It's available on Amazon (link also in comments) with great fan reviews so far!

All the best,

JP, Jesper, and Peter the Producer

"We believe through the lies and the voting / That love goes free"

Morten Harket Waaktaar Magne Furuholmen

12/05/2026

"Love has left its burning ink-mark"

Dear A-ha friends,

We are FLABBERGASTED by the huge interest and participation in our "Big 2026 a-ha Survey"! Thank you 🤩We can't wait to dive into the numbers!

We're keeping the survey open for a while longer, so you can still have your say. To quote the great Morten Harket: "Take you time / Make it soon".

The link to the survey is here: https://forms.gle/W9KD7FixiqJ1uAuJ9

Meanwhile, have a guess: What share of a-ha fans say they DON'T have an a-ha-related tattoo, but ARE considering getting one?

We'll reveal the result once we've closed the survey and analysed the data :)

As always: like, subscribe and share if you think there are other fans who would enjoy our a-ha podcasts and who might want to join the survey.

Stay tuned for more!

All the best,

JP, Jesper and Peter the Producer

"You skin is a canvas / The colours are you"

10/05/2026

"Oh, vote, you wrote, vote my dear / In a survey somewhere"

Dear A-ha friends,

We've been wanting to do this for some time, and the time is now: you are hereby invited to participate in "The Big 2026 a-ha Survey"! You will find the link below, but first a few pieces of information and some important messages, so pay attention, kids!

The survey is about a-ha, about you, about being a fan, your favourite albums, the cover artwork, the concerts you have attended, your interest in Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen, or Pål Waaktaar Savoy's solo projects, and much, much more.

- Participation in the survey is 100% anonymous
- It's comprehensive and might take 10-15 minutes of your time
- The results will be shared on our Facebook and Instagram pages and used as inspiration for future fan-related content or publications.
- Please only submit your responses once

We want the survey to reach as many fans as possible from all over the world, so please like 👍 and share🔄this post with other fans.

For now we'll keep the survey open and send out a reminder when we're about to close it.

"And how do I access the survey", we hear you ask. Simple as can be: Just click this link and you're there!
https://forms.gle/4LvXRVzfwwrYW6XN9

We hope you'll have fun! Some of the questions are probably very difficult to answer, but who said that being an a-ha fan is supposed to be easy? 😂

Thank a lot in advance! We can't wait to see all your responses.

All the best,

JP, Jesper and Peter the Producer

"The vote ahead is long / And I must warn you"

18/04/2026

"Give it up for vinyl (and paper) days / Kicking back from school / Turn the page to make it real sweet"

Dear a-ha friends,

First of all: huge thank you for the overwhelming response to our latest podcast episode! It's good to know you're still out there as keepers of the A-ha flame ❤

Did you get your Analogue vinyl and deluxe CD? We did! And what a beautiful pair they make 😊 But as we know, the best things come in threes, so here we have vinyl Analogue, Deluxe Edition Analogue on CD, and a few pages of lesson three from JP's book, which is inspired by a key lyric from Keeper of the Flame, one of the songs included on Analogue: "Turn it up to make it real sweet".

So in honour of a-ha, let's turn Analogue up this weekend - whether it's the new vinyl or deluxe edition or it's the 2005/6 original CD, any of the singles from the album or simply what you're able to find on your music streaming services.

We hope you're already enjoying the new versions of familiar songs - or actually: probably mostly older versions of familiar songs, but now we're getting technical. We know we are!

And in the spirit of our latest episode of the podcast, where we imagined a follow-up to Memorial Beach, let us hear your thoughts: If you had to stick to 13 songs, do you think any of the "new" songs on the Analogue Deluxe Edition (Morten's "Slanted Floor" and "With You - With Me" or Pål's "Windfalls") should have made it onto the orginal album from 2005/6? And if so, which songs would you get rid of to make room for any of the new songs? Tell us in the comments.

If you're interested in JP's book, it's available on Amazon, and you can find all the relevant links here: www.linktr.ee/lessonone

We'll revert to podcast planning mode, but don't stray too far from this page. Perhaps we need you for something soonish 😏

All the best,

JP, Jesper and Peter the Producer

"And bottled podcasts are vinegar tomorrow"

11/04/2026

“What are we gonna do? I don’t know, create it”

Dear A-ha friends,

It’s hard to conceive it… but sometimes we feel like doing something other than ranking. And so we did this time! We’ve stepped into our very own time machine and set it to late summer 1996.

In this imaginary world, a-ha are getting ready to create and record their sixth album, the follow-up to 1993’s Memorial Beach.
To help the guys along, Jesper and JP have chosen the 12 songs to go on the album. But not only that: Peter the Producer has made sure the songs on the album are sequenced in the best way possible to create the optimal album flow. Is it a good album? You bet!

The specific criteria for the selection of songs are explained in the podcast, and as per usual it’s quite simple, but JP manages to make it sound very complex. Meanwhile, Jesper is getting a musical deep tissue massage from a song, Peter is waiting for a movie version of JP’s new book, and JP tries to find a link to Joan Osborne. And there’s also a song that is a prune…

We also learn that Jesper cannot count to two, and JP doesn’t know what an octave is. And none of us know what the thing you use to mute the sound of a trumpet is called. There are also stories of scaring an IT guy away from attending a Savoy concert, and Jesper shares his unfiltered feelings about collaborations in music. And perhaps Peter has some interesting chart news from 1997, while JP aaaaalmost doesn’t talk about his book (which you can order here: www.linktr.ee/lessonone )

So, as always, there’s a lot going on when we get together. Actually, this time, so much that we perhaps got overly enthusiastic and maxed out the volume, which has caused some of the sound to become slightly muffled. But what can you expect after 25 episodes? Next time we’ll see if we can hire Alan Tarney.

This slightly different episode, as well as the previous ones, can all be found here:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/dk/podcast/a-ha-ranking-highs-and-lows/id1602079523
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4fQN4fVnSXLwQj6nuZoLG1
Spreaker: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/a-ha-ranking-highs-and-lows--5277221
Pocketcasts: https://pocketcasts.com/podcast/a-ha-ranking-highs-and-lows/196c4700-4872-013a-d6ae-0acc26574db2

Or find all the links here: www.linktr.ee/rankingaha

If you enjoy the podcast, please help us spread the word:
👉 Subscribe wherever you listen (and please rate the podcast)
👉 Like and follow us on Facebook and Instagram
👉 Share the episode with other a-ha fans

It all helps us get the show out to other fans who might not have discovered it yet.

Thank you for all the interaction, the downloads, the encouragement, and just being a part of keeping the a-ha legacy alive.

All the best,

JP, Jesper and Peter the Producer

“New albums belong to the past / Only a fool would expect them to last”

Morten Harket Magne Furuholmen Waaktaar Savoy

08/04/2026

"We need to create / The mystery"

Dear A-ha friends,

Your favourite Danish trio (us, in case you're asking) got together yesterday to record a new episode of 'a-ha: ranking highs and lows'. Perhaps we won't go so far as to say that we wrote history, but we did do a bit of rewriting. Much more on that when the new episode is out.

"Okay, but when IS it out then?" we almost hear you ask. The answer is... this coming weekend-ish. Could be a bit later. Certainly not sooner. But likely well in time before you need to spend your time listening to the deluxe edition of Analogue, which is out on 17 April. We like to beat a-ha when it comes to worldwide releases... 🌍

In the meantime - if you haven't already - you should go to JP's Linktree to buy his book "Lesson One: What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life" 📕It's got some great reviews on Amazon and in the comments sections here on our Facebook and Instagram pages, so perhaps it's something for you as well? Here's the link to order the book: www.linktr.ee/lessonone

If you're curious to hear more about the book you can simply check out the latest episode of our podcast. There's a short (by JP standards) interview where it's all explained in greater detail.

We look forward to sharing the new podcast episode with you and hope you'll enjoy listening to it as much as we did recording it (mind you, we did have some very tasty takeaway which made the session more enjoyable, but it's up to you to decide if you prefer to listen on an empty stomach). "Hey writer, where're we going?" Honestly, I don't have a clue, so let's just end it here - and you'll hear from us soon!

Oh, and as always: please like, subscribe, and share as you see fit. It all helps us reach more a-ha fans who would appreciate some quality content about the band we all love.

All the best,

JP, Jesper, and Peter the Producer

"We had it all / You invented more"

Morten Harket Magne Furuholmen Waaktaar

01/02/2026

"Wrote this book and thought of you"

Dear a-ha friends,

This update is a little bit different from what we normally do in a-ha: ranking highs and lows. But there’s something I — meaning JP — have been waiting to share with you for a while, and now it’s almost time.

For the past eighteen months, I’ve been working on a book about a-ha. Or rather, it’s a book about the valuable life lessons we can learn from a-ha’s songs. It’s all there in the title: "Lesson One: What Listening to a-ha Has Taught Me About Life".

In the book, I reflect on a-ha’s lyrics, their songs and career, and the highs and lows of a fandom that has added colour to my life for forty years, from the very beginning to the present day. In other words: twenty examples of what listening to a-ha has taught me — and perhaps you — about life. Each lesson is taken from a line in an a-ha song, such as “It’s no better to be safe than sorry”, “Decisions travel far from heart to head” and “We need to celebrate the mystery”. What do they tell us about life, why are they still important today, and have a-ha even followed their own advice?

It’s a book for the dedicated a-ha fan who knows that songs are much more than background noise. It’s not a biography about the band, and it’s not a guide to their discography. Lesson One is a personal journey through magazine kiosks, questionable fashion choices, vivid dreams of sharks, anxieties, pen pals and lifelines.

I’ll let you know when it’s available and where you can find it, if you’re interested. As someone who loves physical releases, I’ve made the decision that it will only be available as a physical book.

In the end, this is really just my way of saying thank you — to a-ha, and to all of you fellow fans who know what it means to carry a band with you through different chapters of your life. And in Lesson One, you'll find twenty of those chapters. I'm sure you can relate to some of them.

More to come soon!

All the best,

JP

"Keep writing lessons / Time's passing so slow"

a-ha: ranking highs and lows

31/05/2026

30/05/2026

25/05/2026

17/05/2026

12/05/2026

10/05/2026

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