SEOUL - The long-awaited comeback of South Korean boy band BigBang saw the quartet breaking multiple records.

Within hours of the single Still Life dropping on various platforms at midnight on Tuesday (April 5), the soft rock track soared to the top of K-pop charts.

This is the mega boy band's first single since 2018's Flower Road, which was their farewell song before they enlisted for South Korea's mandatory military service.

Within an hour of release, Still Life became the first single to reach one million in sales in China since the country limited sales of digital albums and singles to one per account last year. This was an attempt by the authorities to clamp down on rabid fan behaviour.

In South Korea, the new track, written and composed by bandmates G-Dragon and T.O.P, entered at No. 26 on streaming site Melon's 24Hits chart within an hour of its release, the highest debut by a K-pop group on the country's most popular music streaming site.

The music video on YouTube also smashed records, with one million likes in three hours and 11 minutes.

It took over Stray Kids' Maniac as the fastest K-pop music video released in 2022 to hit the one million milestone.

The emotional and melancholic music video shows Taeyang, 33, Daesung, 32, G-Dragon, 33, and T.O.P, 34, performing from different locations that represent the four seasons. The four members do not appear together at any time in the video and at one point, four empty chairs are shown.

T.O.P, who left their management company YG Entertainment in February, has hinted that he may not be part of the group in the future.

In an interview last month with Prestige Hong Kong magazine, he said: "In the last few years, I was starting to think that maybe this was the end, and maybe there won't be T.O.P of BigBang for a while."

This is BigBang's first outing as a quartet, following the departure of ex-member Seungri after a sex and drug scandal in 2019.

G-Dragon posted a photo on Instagram of the remaining four members after the single's release, writing: "Now we meet again as the flowers bloom."