In an incredible and historical turn of events started by a Facebook campaign, politicised LA punk band Rage Against the Machine have beaten the winner of the ‘X Factor’ to the Christmas Number One slot in the UK.
Their song ‘Killing in the name’, first released in 1992 on the Sony label outsold Joe McElderry’s version of Miley Cyrus’s song ‘The Climb’ by 50,000 sales. The campaign to get the song to Number One was initiated by Jon and Tracy Morter through an online campaign on social networking site Facebook. Sales of the single have reportedly made £78,000 for Shelter, a Charity for the homeless.
The campaign gained momentum through the creation of various supportive Facebook groups alongside announcements on Twitter, celebrity endorsement and coverage in the mainstream media.
According to data released by the Official Chart Company, the single sold 502,000 units in comparison to McElderry’s 450,000, whose first release is now Number Two in the charts.
It is the first time in Five years that the Christmas Number One in the UK isn’t held the winner of the immensely popular talent show.
This means that ‘Killing in the name’ is also the UK’s first download-only Christmas Number One and it now holds the record for biggest one-week download sales total in British Chart history.
Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot said in a statement:
"Congratulations to Rage Against The Machine on their Number One - as we have seen in recent years, overhauling any X FactorM winner in the race for the Christmas Number One is no mean achievement. The popular support we have seen for the record this week has been truly amazing - and handed them two all-time records.
A post on the official Rage Against the Machine website said: "We've shown that we can make a difference and that you don't have a right to Number One just because Simon Cowell says so, especially with a bad cover!”
Simon Cowell (pictured above), the format creator, Executive Producer and judge on the X factor has allegedly offered the married couple who started the campaign a job working for him and congratulated them on an exciting chart race, commenting that he now had to accept that there are some people in the country who don’t like the X Factor show, although he initially branded the campaign as “cynical” and “stupid” in media interviews.
Controversy surrounding the song heightened when a live unedited version of the song was broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live by chat host Nicky Campbell last week following an interview with the band. The song was cut, but only after the song's signature refrain of "F**k you I won't do what you tell me" had been repeated four times.
Rage Against the Machine have promised UK fans a massive free concert next year to celebrate the victory.
Have your say! Did you buy either song? What are your thoughts on people essentially using social networking sites to topple the X factor monopoly on the Christmas Number One slot? Are Sony in fact the real winners, owning the rights to both songs? What do you think of the exhilarating race for the Christmas Number One slot this year?
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