Ed Sheeran has been writing songs for Taylor Swift.

The "A Team" hitmaker - who has previously penned tracks for One Direction - was asked by the country singer to work on her new album because she is a "massive fan" of his own music.

"Ed and Taylor have been in the studio in LA a lot over the past few weeks working on new material. She's into her British music and became a massive fan of Ed before asking to work with him recently. There is a mutual affection between the pair," a source said.

It has not yet been decided whether Ed's songs will be released as singles, but even just a credit on an album track will earn the 21-year-old British star around $310,000.

"It's still to be officially decided how the material will be released but just a single credit on her album will be worth big money. Taylor's country sound is massive around the world," the source added.