Paying homage to one of the most influential groups of all time, NBC is celebrating Sweden's most popular export with "ABBA: Thank You for the Music, An All-Star Tribute." The two-hour special, set to air in December, will showcase specially invited artists performing classic songs made famous by ABBA, including "Dancing Queen," "Mamma Mia," "The Winner Takes It All" and "Take a Chance on Me."

The once-in-a-lifetime event will be broadcast around the world to a global audience. BBC Worldwide will handle the international distribution.

One of the best-selling music groups of all time, with album and single sales of 385 million, the four members of ABBA - Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - will be debuting their first new song in 35 years. Written by Andersson and Ulvaeus, it is set to be performed by virtual ABBA, a state-of-the-art digital representation of the band in 1979 but voiced and recorded by ABBA today.

Agnetha, Benny, Björn and Anni-Frid said: "The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence. We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time stood still and we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience! It resulted in two new songs, and one of them - 'I Still Have Faith in You' - will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good."

The telecast will be produced and directed by Johan Renck and executive produced by Simon Fuller, with Es Devlin on board as set designer.