NEW YORK (AFP) - Rap superstar Eminem's long-awaited album finally has a release date - Dec 15 - and it will feature an array of star collaborators.

The top-selling rapper of all time took to social media on Tuesday (Dec 5) to reveal details of Revival, his ninth studio album and his first in four years.

Eminem last month put out the album's first single, Walk on Water, a sharp shift in his sound with gospel-tinged vocals by Beyonce over a lonesome piano.

The tracklist showed that the album also brings in other major stars from the pop world - Skylar Grey, Kehlani, Alicia Keys, Pink and Ed Sheeran - as well as upstate New York rockers X Ambassadors.

Grey, who performs on a song entitled Tragic Endings, will be making her latest appearance with Eminem.

As a little-known songwriter, she wrote one of Eminem's number-one hits - 2010's Love The Way You Lie featuring Rihanna - and later appeared alongside Eminem on Dr. Dre's track I Need A Doctor.

Eminem's new album only appears to include one other rapper and he picked one who is relatively obscure - Phresher, who has been making a buzz on the New York club scene.

Phresher rejoiced at the massive new exposure he will likely enjoy through the album.

"GOD IS AMAZING!!!! .... Thanks eminem aka DA GOAT For Believing in ME!" he wrote on Instagram, using the acronym, of which Eminem is fond, for "greatest of all time".

On Walk on Water, Eminem rapped at length about his fears of not living up to his own standards or fan expectations as he comes up with new material.

The 45-year-old rapper has been quiet over the past few years but has twice returned with angry denunciations of President Donald Trump, most recently with a freestyle rap aired at the Black Entertainment Television Hip-Hop Awards.