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Rage Against the Machine Winning Christmas Chart Battle

The race for the Christmas number one officially kicked off Sunday night (Dec. 13) when 'X Factor' contestant Joe McElderry beat Olly Murs to win this year's edition of the talent contest. Yet despite Simon Cowell's plans to install the 18-year-old at the peak of this year's Yuletide charts with his cover of Miley Cyrus' 'The Climb,' Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing in the Name Of' is currently occupying the top slot in both the HMV and iTunes download charts.

As previously reported, a Facebook group was created with the express intention of stopping this year's 'X Factor' winner shooting to the top of the festive charts by urging fans to buy Rage Against the Machine's polemical 1992 hit instead. The group has so far attracted over 714,000 members.

Tracy Morter, co-organiser of The Rage Against The Machine campaign, is also urging fans to make a donation to the homeless charity Shelter which has so far raised over £19,000. She said: "As we know, some of the proceeds from the 'X Factor' single go to charity. If any Rage for No.1 supporters wish to donate to a good cause alongside their purchase... we have chosen Shelter because no one should be homeless at Christmas."

Elsewhere, bookmakers have stopped accepting bets on which of the two records will win the race. 'The Climb' was listed as favourite with odds of 1/5 with ' Killing in the Name Of' taking second place at 10/3.

The UK's Christmas number one single will be announced next Sunday (Dec. 20).


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niamh carney

its gona get rigged anyway.. joes going to win because his music is 'Fashionable'..
obv it will be rigged
no one wants rebellious rage music .. because everyone else doesnt like it its all just a big.. oh yeah were sheep situation
Personally i hope rage win.. but i dont think they will the music industry is wayy too concious

December 24 2009 at 2:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
buco

YOUR LIKE A LOAD OF SHEEP! SOME DICKHEAD & WIFE TELL YOU WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO BUY, SO YOU GO AND DO IT?.
IS`NT THAT WHAT SIMON COWELL IS DOING,BAA,BAA.
BUT JOE CAN SING,AND NOT ONE SWEAR WORD.
IF YOU CALL R.A.T.M.MUSIC YOU NEED AN HEARING TEST.
BUT PEOPLE LIKE CRAP SORRY RAP /

December 21 2009 at 7:12 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
salome2001

well, killing in the name has been around for 17 years and still has the balls to attract 700,000 fans to a facebook campaign. Let's see if Joe's around in one year, let alone 17...

December 20 2009 at 3:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jackie

I am glad, although I feel for Joe. I was annoyed when the Darkness single was beaten by a dreary dreadful cover of Mad World which seemed to change the Christmas number one forever, the Darkness was the best Xmas song since Slade but we were robbed when that dreary song came from nowhere.It seemed to set the scene for more misery in this country from that moment on. I personally hated the warbling women X factor Christmas number ones previously ,so all power to the people. I hope all the money pledged actually goes to Shelter, which was the point of course.

December 20 2009 at 2:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Zhiguli

Maybe it's just the thought of yet again the X-Factor single is christmas no1? imho Rage against the machine is a fitting single to be chosen to counter it.. the band name? x-factor being the machine? Bring back the time when people released proper christmas records!!!

December 19 2009 at 4:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
george

stop simon grinch cowel stealing the number one slot

December 19 2009 at 10:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Nadege

Get a grip people. No one is going to tell me what I should and shouldn't buy and when. Perhaps listening to end of Killing in The Name will give you an idea. I won't tell you what to like but I know I can't stand the majority of todays insipid chart. If you like Joe's single buy it, end of.

December 18 2009 at 6:15 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kitti

Why does it matter what's in the charts anyway. If you like a band, you should buy their single whether they're in the charts or not. The charts are just superficial. If Joes music is really good, the single will still be in the charts after christmas. I think a lot of people just want a change from the X factor. I bought the RATM song, not because I'm a huge fan of them, but because that'll be the easiest way to get this change. If music really meant anything to anyone, there'd be no charts anyway. Just because something isn't number 1, doesn't stop you from listening to it.

December 17 2009 at 3:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
micri90

You are just foul mouthed. You need to learn to articulate instead of resorting to 4 letter words. I for 1 don't want to hear that rubbish.

December 17 2009 at 7:22 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Poppa Bananas

Good luck to Joe, hopefully he can get some legal representation and rip up the contract that he has with Cowell, then maybe, if he is a good singer he could join a band and make some music. Why should number one be a song that was in the charts already this year with some other dull as ditch water puppet.
I'm gonna buy another copy of RATM because i just hate this fake xfactor bullshit. Also, why not have a website where people vote for their fav song and then we can all do this every week. KILL THE CHARTS!!

December 17 2009 at 5:20 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply