The song, titled “Merry Christmas,” will be released on Friday, the two announced Monday.
John took to Twitter to share the news, writing, “Just under a year ago, I called @edsheeran to see if he wanted to make a Christmas single with me and now it’s nearly here! ‘Merry Christmas’ will be out Fri 3 Dec with all proceeds from this year’s Christmas period going to the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation & [the Elton John Aids Foundation].”
The two also made a “Love Actually” themed video in which Sheeran knocks on John’s door with a set of note cards in his hand, reading: “Hello. Last Christmas I received a call from my mate Elton John and he told me we should do a ‘Christmas Song,’ And I replied ‘Yeah. Maybe in 2022.’ But I actually wrote the chorus that day and here we are. Our Christmas song ‘Merry Christmas’ is out this Friday. Go pre-order or pre-save it now. It has sleigh bells. A lot of them….”
All proceeds from the song will go to Sheeran’s foundation, which provides grants to young musicians in his hometown of Suffolk, and John’s AIDS charity.