Westlife are back! Fans in 'tears' as group drop comeback single Hello My Love

Forget the Spice Girls – Westlife are back and we feel like we’re flying without wings.

The chart-topping Irish boyband have officially made their comeback with new single Hello My Love.

Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily and Shane Filan dropped their first new release in eight years on Thursday morning, months after confirming their return to music.

The ballad was penned by Ed Sheeran ahead of their reunion announcement, something the group described as an “honour”.

“Ed is now one of the biggest stars in the world but also when I first met him, he was just doing gigs in bars and he was not very widely known,” Feehily told Metro. “When I met him that time, he was a huge Westlife fan and learnt to play the guitar to one of our greatest hits and he just loved Westlife.

“I thought, that’s really cool, this really talented singer-songwriter loves Westlife.”

The track quickly climbed to the top of the iTunes chart minutes after its release with the Westlife hashtag soon trending on Twitter, with fans worldwide in celebration.

One fan posted: “Name any boy band from back in the day that has been silent for 10 years then drops a single (Hello my love), without saying a single word about it and boom its trending in less than 2 hours? #Westlife are the GOAT(reminds me of our very own @RealShinski).”

Another tweeted: “Ahhhh the new @westlifemusic song Hello My Love is amazing, I love it!! Great song.”

A third excited fan wrote: “I am shouting, my childhood g’s.... #Westlife.”

Westlife will tour the UK and Ireland for the first time in seven years next summer with The Twenty Tour in celebration of the group’s 20th anniversary.

The tour is their fastest selling of all time, with 400,000 tickets selling within 48 hours of release last year.

The shows will mark their first as a group since playing Croke Park in Dublin in June 2012.

Hello My Love is out now