Sunday 20 December 2009

Rage Against The Machine storm to Xmas No.1

It is probably the biggest chart upset in recent times.Tonight it has been announced that US rock group has topped the UK charts to grab the Christmas No.1

Over the last few years the best selling single at Christmas has always been held by the winner of the X-Factor competition. Shayne Ward (2005), Leona Lewis (2006), Leon Jackson(2007) and Alexandra Burke (2008) all won the X-Factor and went on to have Xmas No.1's

2009 X-Factor winner Joe McElderry was expected to repeat the formula with his début single 'The Climb', however it was not to be. A Facebook based campaign that had started in protest of The X Factor's dominance of the Christmas Number 1 title and pushed Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name" as an alternative, proved a formidable competitor.

In a sign of how times have changed the upset was achieved on the back of Facebook and Twitter campaigns, and the song being available as an internet download only. Rage of the Machine sold 500,000 to beat McElderry's 450,000 which was sold as both an Internet download and physical CDs.

Interestingly both labels are signed to Sony records so the competition which boosted sales for both artistes would not have been unwelcome.

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