a-ha: ranking highs and lows

a-ha: ranking highs and lows

Welcome to 'a-ha - ranking highs and lows', the project where two life-long a-ha fans have taken on the ambitious task of ranking all the band's songs from worst to best!

Episodes

July 6, 2025 261 mins
‘And when she’s ranking by my side / Eyes closed, all knowledge trapped inside’

Dear a-ha friends,

We couldn’t be happier to set a new “personal best” when it comes to podcast episode length than with this latest edition of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’. We are joined by none other than Sondre Lerche, one of Norway’s finest songwriters and artists and - importantly - an a-ha fan since the tender age of 4!

In this latest episode he te...
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‘Hey listen honey, something you should rank / This can’t wait’

Dear a-ha friends,

We are extremely proud to share this new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ with you. We had the chance to catch up with Jørun Bøgeberg – a-ha’s bass player from 1990 to 1994, all-round cool dude and one of the nicest guys you’re likely to meet.

In this episode, Jørun kindly shares his favourite moments from his time with a-ha, and we are just th...
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‘I went down to the ranking / Like a lamb to the slaughter’

Dear a-ha friends,

We are very proud to share with you this episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’. Not only is it episode 20, but it is also our first episode to feature a guest star and guest ranker - none other than Norwegian journalist and author Ørjan Nilsson, the man behind three excellent books about our beloved a-ha members. Ørjan kindly agreed to create his very ...
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“You’re hoping for rankings / Well, just look around / Everyone here is standing in line”

Dear a-ha friends,It’s time we made good on our promise to record a new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ - as far as we know the world’s only (and therefore arguably: best) podcast solely dedicated to the wonderful music of a-ha and their related solo projects. And this episode is of course a ranking of the songs from Magne’s new album...
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In this episode we rank the 20 best music videos from a-ha. We also consider taking up synchronised swimming, we recall a sad day in 1991, and we have lengthy discussions about feet. We also hear about a cool gadget in Jesper’s teenage room, we discuss plot holes, find the optimal role for Morten in Hollywood, and speculate if slow-cooked wolf is a delicacy.

We also do some book research, speculate who would get rescued on Noah’s ar...
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In this episode of "a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows" we revist the MUSIC VIDEOS to see which ones have stood the test of time, and which ones fall flat. Not surprisingly we have a lot to say, so we’ve split the ranking into two parts. The upside of that is that there will be another episode out very soon, and the downside is… well, there ARE no downsides, as far as we can see.

In this first episode we’re covering the music videos ranke...
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In this episode of 'a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows' we rank the 10 songs on the album 'Under' by Savoy, the 2nd band by a-ha-guitarist Pål Waaktaar-Savoy.

This time you get to hear Jesper and JP being quite offended, Peter the Producer has unwarranted hopes for a shorter podcast, and we mispronounce Frode Unneland in so many ways that it’s almost Guinness Book of Records-worthy.

We also tip-toe around well-known music terms, we update ...
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In this episode of "a-ha: ranking highs and lows" we’ve ranked the songs from ‘MTV Unplugged - Summer Solstice’ album, which we hope you’ve all had a chance to listen to. Otherwise maybe this episode can serve as an introduction.

This time we go shopping for instruments with Mozart, Jesper invents a new superhero, and JP shares opinions about musical arrangements of which he has no clue. We also encounter a large selection of instru...
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December 2, 2023 165 mins
In this episode we rank the 25 best live versions of a-ha songs.

We’re happy to share a new episode of ‘a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows’ with you as we’re getting into December. Consider it an early Christmas present from us to you. And no, it doesn’t come in another size, colour or shape, but it DOES present our ranking of the 25 best live songs from a-ha, and that’s really a ‘one size fits all’ if you ask us!

In this episode JP praise...
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October 8, 2023 127 mins
In this episode we rank the 11 studio albums by a-ha.

Among other things you’ll get a tour through Jesper’s Facebook feed from 2009, Peter sees an escape door standing ajar, and JP provides a status on a t-shirt from the year 2000. We also rank German music magazines, and a-ha wins a questionable contest. And can you buy a girlfriend in a clothing store in Berlin?

Jesper also worries about why JP is suddenly quiet (it doesn’t last lo...
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In this episode of "a-ha: Ranking Highs and Lows" we're doing a slightly different ranking of a-ha-related songs, more specifically a top 10 of the best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) lyrical backstabs between the guys in the band. In other words: which lyrics are verbal knives in another band member's back, and how deep does the knife go?

The Ranking Highs and Lows podcast team has never been afraid of doing some major...
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In this episode we rank the 25 best songs by Pål Waaktaar-Savoy from his projects outside of a-ha, which thereby is the 2nd part of our top 50 countdown.

In this episode you'll be treated to more accents than anyone needs to hear, Jesper re-visits some of his favourite references, Peter the Producer is looking for a way out and JP continues to struggle with even the simplest Norwegian. We also still mess up the pronounciation af Fro...
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This episode of Ranking Highs and Lows is part 1 of our ranking of the 50 best songs by a-ha guitarist and songwriter Pål Waaktaar-Savoy from his projects outside of a-ha.

We're very pleased to announce that we've had the opportunity to ask Pål about some of the songs on our ranking. He was very kind to answer some questions we e-mailed to him, and it's probably safe to say that his answers were better than our questions. However, b...
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December 30, 2022 148 mins
In this episode we direct our attention to a-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen as we hunt for the 30 highs from his solo endeavours and side projects outside a-ha.

In this episode you'll hear how Peter has given up on JP and now gives a trusted task to Jesper, we await a concept album about skimmed milk, and Peter and JP are left speechless (if only for a short while) by Jesper’s anecdotes from an Apparatjik concert.

We get another one...
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December 10, 2022 143 mins
In this episode we rank songs from the solo career of Morten Harket, the legendary vocalist of equally legendary band a-ha. And whether you are new to Morten's solo efforts or have listened to all or most of it already this is definitely a podcast for you!

In this episode we’ll be discussing the different stages of Morten’s solo career, JP once again tries to give a short summary of something (will he ever succeed?), and we find out...
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October 29, 2022 97 mins
In this episode we rank the 12 songs from "True North" - the latest addition to a-ha's amazing career and song catalogue - from the worst to the best, and we can reveal that the battle for the top spot is close!

In this episode we possibly fail at giving a short summary of anything, we praise some drummers, we talk about second cousins and sisters, and it would be surprising if there wasn’t something that sounds more Beatles than Th...
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January 27, 2022 94 mins
In the sixth - and so far final - episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we finally reveal which of a-ha’s 147 songs is the ultimate number one! The superlatives are flying all around us as we count down from 25 to 1, but there’s still room for heavy compromises and disagreements - just like when a-ha makes an album.

In this episode we hear about trips to the public swimming pool in the 1980’s, how a trained fan ear may be able to tell d...
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January 20, 2022 82 mins
In the fifth episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we crack the top 50 as we continue our ranking of the 147 a-ha songs from worst to best by counting down from 50 to 26. Here we encounter a song that both of us like but for quite different reasons, we run into some serious compromises and discuss which version of a song is the right one to rank.

We also come across some big hits, discuss the importance of the production of a song, find...
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January 13, 2022 66 mins
In the fourth episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we continue our ranking of the 147 a-ha songs from worst to best by counting down from 75 to 51. In this episode we will discuss how many cousins Driftwood actually has, get to know which song made one of us realize at a young age that we were maturing, and which song one of us considers more Beatles than The Beatles.

We also discuss whether a certain long-awaited demo lives up to the ...
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January 6, 2022 68 mins
In the third episode of Ranking Highs and Lows we crack the top 100 as we continue our ranking of the 147 a-ha songs from worst to best by counting down from 100 to 76. In this episode we see the song quality increase significantly, discover lyrics that may not be considered appropriate in 2021, and find out which song meant a lot to one of your podcast hosts when he was love sick.

We also discuss a-ha vs. Savoy vs. Beatles vs. Mado...
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