Ace of Base — "All That She Wants"

Ace of Base formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1990: siblings Jonas, Linn, and Jenny Berggren plus Ulf Ekberg, settling on the name in early 1991. "All That She Wants" released August 31, 1992 in Scandinavia, produced by Denniz Pop with Jonas Berggren and Ulf Ekberg. The track fused dub reggae with pop sensibility, creating something darker and more sophisticated than the typical Eurodance formula. It claimed #1 in 13 countries, including the UK (three weeks at the top) and Germany (eight weeks, making it Germany's best-selling single of 1993). Denmark kept it at #1 for 13 weeks—a cultural stranglehold.

The US release arrived August 27, 1993, and the single eventually reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, going Platinum and selling roughly 3.7 million copies worldwide by 1998. Originally from the album *Happy Nation* (1992), the song traveled to North America as part of a reworked and retitled edition called *The Sign* (1993), which became one of the best-selling debut albums of all time: over 21 million copies, 9× Platinum in the US. The follow-up title track "The Sign" became even bigger in America, spending six weeks at #1 and becoming the best-selling single of 1994. Unlike most of their era's one-hit wonders, Ace of Base proved their staying power. But "All That She Wants" was the portal moment—the song that signaled to American radio that Swedish and European dance-pop were no longer novelties. The wave of European dance acts that crossed into the US charts over the next five years walked through a door this song helped open.