Adele to go on tour for first time in 5 years

British singer Adele is to go on tour in Europe next year, her first live dates in five years, she announced Thursday.

The "Hello" star, whose smash hit album "25" was released earlier this month, will play 36 dates from February to June 2016.

The shows will be in Britain, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, France and Belgium.

Tickets for the British shows go on sale on Tuesday and on Wednesday for the rest of Europe.

Adele has previously spoken of how she suffers from stage fright, while some media reports had suggested she would not tour her latest album as she does not like leaving her three-year-old son Angelo.

But in a video posted on her Twitter account, she said: "I have been bluffing this whole time and I'm so relieved to finally tell you I am, of course, coming on tour and I can't wait to see all of you there."

Her last tour in 2011 was cut short when she needed surgery on her vocal cords.

"25" is on course to smash the record for the highest opening week album sales in the United States, beating 2000's "No Strings Attached" by boy band NSYNC, featuring Justin Timberlake.

"25" is the first full-length work in four years by Adele, whose last album "21" was the top-seller in the United States for two straight years and by far the biggest release this century in her native Britain.

The latest album follows a similar artistic path of ballads about heartbreak, led by the opening track "Hello."

Her album "21" was best known for the tear-jerker "Someone Like You."