Brit Awards 2015: Kanye West to perform but will Rihanna join rapper on stage?

Following weeks of speculation, it has been confirmed that Kanye West will perform at the 2015 Brit Awards.

Hours before the annual ceremony, organisers announced the outspoken rapper would top the bill at the O2 in London.

"Kanye West tops off an amazing set of performers at this year's Brit Awards with some of the biggest British and global stars taking the stage," Candice Morrissey, head of YouTube music partnerships across Europe, said.

"We're excited to partner with the Brits again this year so anyone outside of the UK who can't tune in on TV can watch their favourite artists live on the Brits YouTube channel."

It will the hip-hop star's first time on the Brits stage in almost 10 years. The three-time Brit Award winner's only previous appearance was in 2006, when he was joined by 77 dancers covered in gold paint during his performance of Gold Digger.

Apart from whether he plans to gate crash any more acceptance speeches, the question on everybody's lips is will Rihanna join West on stage?

Following their recent collaboration with Beatles icon Sir Paul McCartney on the track FourFiveSeconds, the duo definitely have enough material. The catchy acoustic, which features the lines "Now I'm four, five seconds from wildin'/And we got three more days 'til Friday", is the first taste of the 26-year-old Barbadian's new music.

The duo could also treat fans to a trip down memory lane by belting their other collaborative hits, All Of The Lights and Run This Town.

Whatever West has in store for the night, he will have a hard job of topping the offstage antics at the Grammys earlier in February. Fans were left stunned when he interrupted Beck after he beat Beyoncé to the album of the year, in what appeared to be a nod to his infamous stage invasion of Taylor Swift's 2009 VMA speech. He later said Beck winning the award was "disrespectful to inspiration".

Before Kim Kardashian's husband joined the impressive line-up, which includes Ed Sheeran, Swift and 2014 Critics' Choice winner Sam Smith, Madonna's forthcoming performance was the one that had social media buzzing.

The 34th Brit Awards will be broadcast live on ITV at 8pm GMT. Ant and Dec have been enlisted to host the star-studded ceremony following James Corden's departure from the role.