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Is Ed Sheeran king of the collab? We've got grounds to think that he might be.

He appears on Eminem's new album Revival on new duet River, and it's just the latest in a long line of big name collaborations for Ed.

When he's not penning some of your favourite songs, sung by the music's biggest names (Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Jessie Ware, Rudimental... you get the gist), he's busy firing off tracks to his favourite artists in the hopes that a collaboration is on the cards.

It's been four long years since Eminem last dropped an album (The Marshall Mathers LP 2 was released in November 2013) but December 15th marks the arrival of his ninth studio album, Revival, which just so happens to be chockablock with big name collabs.

We've already heard Beyoncé's contribution to Revival in the form of Walk On Water but Queen B isn't the only big name featured: Kehlani, Alicia Keys, P!nk and - of course - Ed Sheeran are a few of the other music juggernauts on Revival's tracklist.

Chatting to ahead of his Christmas Live Lounge (), Ed dished on the inner workings of the collab that we never saw coming.

"I have a rule [that] if I'm going to do a song with someone I have to know them, even with the Eminem collaboration.

"I recorded that myself, sent it off and he did the verses but I made sure we met before it came out because it's so weird when you're being interviewed and you have to say you've not met and just done the song over the internet."

It's Sheeran verified: Ed and Eminem are pals. Emined? Edinem? Whatever they decide to name themselves, we are here for this friendship.

Wrong! Turns out this particular collab took a little longer than anticipated, with Ed sending Eminem the song in March 2016 and only hearing back in March 2017.

“I get an email from Paul Rosenberg, Eminem’s manager, and he said, ‘We’re gonna start putting the album together, send any ideas,’” Sheeran told earlier this year.

“So I used the studio at Russell [Crowe's] house… played the drums on it, played the guitar, recorded the thing, wrote the chorus and did the piano on it, sent it off and then didn’t hear anything back."

Is Ed Sheeran the gift that keeps on giving? We think he might be. Between serving up a Beyoncé collab and an Eminem collab, hanging at Russell Crowe's house (casual) and breaking chart records left, right and centre (his album '÷' is the fastest selling by a male artist in history), he's also somehow found the time to write a Bond theme. We've never felt so lazy, TBH.

"I've had that [Eminem] collaboration in the back of my head my entire life so when the call came I knew what I was going to record, because as a fan this is what I'd want him to do," Ed told Clara. "If ever there's a Bond theme, I've got one of those to go as well."

Bring. It. On.

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