ABBA is making a comeback after a 35-year hiatus, the Swedish troupe announced on Instagram on Friday. One of their new songs, "I Still Believe in You," will be featured on a TV special in December.
ABBA sold hundreds of millions of albums worldwide in the years before their 1983 breakup, and had nine number one hits in the UK between 1974 and 1980. Their TV special will feature avatars portraying the band members as they appeared in 1979, the year of their third and final tour. After their TV special, the group will launch a world tour beginning in early 2019.
"It's a pop miracle."
ABBA's announcement of a reunion is "the biggest pop news of the 21st century," said Popjustice editor Peter Robinson. "Most fans grudgingly admired Abba's refusal to record new music, but I think we all sometimes daydreamed about the band possibly, maybe, one day having a rethink at the right time, on the right terms and for the right reasons, which seems to be what's happened here."
The group has turned down many lucrative offers to reunite, including a $1 billion proposal in 2000... yeah, a billion dollars. "You will never see us on stage again … we don't need the money, for one thing," composer Björn Ulvaeus told Billboard in 2014.
The surprise announcement sped through Twitter, and people are elated at the news.