IN POSSIBLY the biggest chart upset ever, a little-known American punk-metal band have beaten the winner of the X Factor to the UK Christmas number one slot.
Following a month-long Facebook campaign to keep whoever won this year's X Factoroff the Christmas No 1 slot, Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Namehas surprised everyone by selling half a million copies to beat Joe McElderry's The Climbin the UK singles chart, which was announced yesterday.
It looks very likely Rage Against the Machine will also be the Irish Christmas No 1 when our singles charts are announced on December 24th.
For the past four years, it has been axiomatic that the winner of the massively popular TV talent show programme secures the No 1 slot. With some 19 million viewers tuning in last week to see 18-year-old Joe McElderry win the show, it was presumed his debut single, a cover version of Miley Cyrus's The Climb, would go straight to the top of the charts.
However, Jon Morter, a part-time DJ from Essex, thought it would be "a bit of a giggle" to start a Facebook page urging people to buy a 1992 track by Rage Against the Machine to prevent the X Factorwinner being a predictable Christmas number one. He chose the band's song Killing in the Nameprimarily because its chorus line is "F*** you, I won't do what you tell me".
Morter, a heavy metal fan, felt the song's sentiment reflected some people's attitude to and boredom with how the X Factormusic machine is now dominating the singles chart in Britain and Ireland.
The Rage Against the Machine song, which was only available on download, sold 500,000 copies in the last seven days in the UK – beating McElderry’s song by some 50,000. In the Irish charts, McElderry was No 1 last week but figures suggest that come this Thursday, Rage Against the Machine will overtake him.
In both countries this has been the closest race for the Christmas No 1 slot in more than a decade. Ironically, both Rage Against the Machine and Joe McElderry are on the same record label – Sony Music.
Zack de la Rocha from Rage Against the Machine responded to the unlikely victory by telling the BBC yesterday: “We are very, very ecstatic about being No 1.”
