ABBA

The Swedish band's long-awaited Voyage - their first album of new material for 40 years - shot straight to number one, earning them the biggest opening week of sales for any album in four years.

Its 204,000 first-week chart sales is the highest since Ed Sheeran's Divide.

Abba's last studio album, 1981's The Visitors, also topped the chart.

The former Eurovision winners have since hit number one with their greatest hits collections, The Singles and Gold.

Fans piled online to celebrate the long-awaited news of the reunion of one of the world's most successful bands. "2021 has been saved by new ABBA music," @elliemiles23 said in one widely shared Twitter post.

The album "Voyage" would come out on 5 November, the band said during the livestreamed launch. They released two of its 10 songs - "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don't Shut Me Down" - on Thursday.

One of the most anticipated comebacks in pop culture has finally come to pass: the return of Abba.

Eurovision: Come Together saw the public vote for their favourites, on the night that this year's song contest was due to take place.

The 2020 competition was cancelled in March amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Swedish foursome won it in 1974 in Brighton. The track, which topped the UK charts and set them on their way to fame, went on to sell nearly 6m copies.

Speaking later on the night, Bjorn Ulvaeus from the band said he found it "hard to believe" that was where it began for them all those years ago.

Ulvaeus told Denmark's Ekstra Bladet tabloid on Wednesday that "it takes an extremely long time'' to make the video for the song with the avatars of the group members, adding "it has been delayed for too long.''

The band earlier said Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog reunited to plan a virtual tour featuring digital avatars.

One of two planned new songs is entitled "I Still Have Faith in You''.

It's not yet clear if that's the song that will come out later this year.