Adele is to embark on a UK and European arena tour next year - her first tour for five years, BBC News reports.

The star will start in Belfast next February and visit Dublin, Manchester, London, Glasgow and Birmingham before moving on to mainland Europe.

Tickets for the UK dates go on sale to members of her website on December 1 before going on general sale on December 4.

Her third album 25 has sold 737,000 copies in the UK in just six days. It has also sold almost three million in the US since its release.

In interviews, the singer has suggested she may not tour, blaming stage fright, her chequered vocal health, motherhood, and saying she finds touring lonely.

But in a short video posted to accompany the tour announcement, she said: "I have been bluffing this whole time and I'm so relieved to tell you I am of course coming on tour."