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Rage at No 1

The race between X Factor winner Joe McElderry and Rage Against the Machine to snag the Christmas No. 1 single in the U.K. is over. Surprisingly, it’s the latter who came out on top, with “Killing in the Name” ultimately selling over 500,000 copies, and raising £64,726 for the charity Shelter.

“It’s more about the spontaneous action taken by young people in the U.K. to topple this very sterile pop monopoly,” said Rage singer Zack de la Rocha. “When young people decide to take action they can make what’s seemingly impossible, possible. We would like to congratulate Joe and Simon (Cowell) on the Number Two single.”

Rage Against the Machine is now set to play a huge free concert in the U.K. next year as a way of saying thanks to the fans who gave the band this unexpected boost. Meanwhile, Cowell has responded by offering jobs to the organizers behind the Rage campaign, showing that he always has business in mind:

“I offered them jobs at my record company,” he said. “It could be in marketing or perhaps even running the company! This is their first attempt at putting out a record and they got a Christmas Number One, so they have not done badly at all. I wanted them to come and work for us. I was deadly serious, but they haven’t taken me up on the offer.”

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