First listen: Adele's Skyfall theme song

Cape Town - A preview of Adele's much-anticipated theme song to the new James Bond movie Skyfall has been leaked online.

The song, which takes its name from the title of the 23rd Bond film, will be officially unveiled on Friday at seven minutes past midnight (0:07 in the UK), which also coincides with Global James Bond Day to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the British spy films. The first Bond movie, Dr No starring Sean Connery, premiered in London on 5 October 1962.

The song leak comes shortly after Adele confirmed via Twitter that she was the voice of the new Bond theme, when she posted a photo of the Skyfall sheet music.

The song credits Adele (as A. Adkins) and P. (Paul) Epworth, who produced Adele's hit song Rolling in the Deep and much of her Grammy-winning second album 21, as the songwriters.

The song is available to pre-order on iTunes and runs for 4 minutes and 46 seconds.

Skyfall, which sees Daniel Craig return for his third outing as Bond, is set for release in the UK on 26 October and a month later in South Africa on 30 November.

Listen to the preview of Adele's Skyfall theme here: