Christmas Number 1 Flashback 2009: Rage Against The Machine take on The X Factor...and win
There are several watercooler moments in British pop music; Geri Halliwell quitting Spice Girls, Alexandra Burke duetting with Beyoncé on The X Factor Live Final...and a fan-organised campaign ending in Rage Against The Machine beating Joe McElderry to 2009's Christmas Number 1.
First, a little context. By 2009, The X Factor was the biggest television show in the UK, reaching its peak cultural ubiquity. It was the prime-time Saturday night must-see, creating chart-topping careers for (at that point) Leona Lewis, Alexandra Burke and JLS, as well as helping judge Cheryl Cole assume superstar status in her solo career (although perhaps the programme's greatest achievements, the creation of One Direction and Little Mix were yet to come).
By 2009, The X Factor had accounted for the last four years of the UK's Official Christmas Number 1s; with the winner's singles from Shayne Ward (That's My Goal, 2005), Leona Lewis (A Moment Like This, 2006), Leon Jackson (When You Believe, 2007) and Alexandra Burke (Hallelujah, 2008) all reaching the festive top spot.
Clearly, some people thought it was time for a change, and for The X Factor's seeming monopoly on the Christmas Number 1 title to end. There had been several grassroots campaigns to un-seat Alexandra Burke's gospel take on Hallelujah by pushing Jeff Buckley's hallowed cover of the Leonard Cohen classic to Number 1, but they didn't come to fruition.
MORE: Rage Against The Machine's Official Charts history in full
Cut to the final of The X Factor 2009. Geordie Joe McElderry had surged to victory with a cover of Miley Cyrus' The Climb. but a question mark still hung over whether he could carry on the legacy and secure a fifth consecutive Christmas Number 1 for the Syco cohort. Enter Jon and Tracy Morter.
The duo had tried in vain the previous year to Rick Roll the nation with a passionate campaign to get Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up to Number 1. But for their next trick, they zoned in on a guttural rap-rock protest song, hardcore American rock band Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name.
This was nothing personal to Joe McElderry either, with the campaign sowing its roots well before he had even been crowned victor, but suddenly the Official Christmas Number 1 for 2009 was comprised of a two-horse race; a fresh-faced wannabe pop idol and a track that mixed rap, alternative rock and hardcore metal that had reached Number 25 during its original 1992 release.
Making full use of burgeoning social media platforms such as Facebook, the Morters succeeded in running one of the first truly viral campaigns; that spread from online forums to quickly being plastered all over the news.
And it turns out, all the publicity paid off. Rage Against The Machine's Killing In The Name re-entered the UK Official Singles Chart at Number 1 on the week commencing December 20 2009, netting them the Official Christmas Number 1 in the process.
Killing In The Name pulled together a mightily impressive 502,000 copies in seven days, while Joe wasn't actually that far behind, debuting at Number 2 with 450,000.
According to Official Charts Company data, Killing In The Name has UK chart sales totalling 1.4 million, including 809,000 digital downloads and a very impressive 72 million streams. The Climb somewhat lags behind with 859,000 chart sales, although with 443,000 physical sales, it's the most-physically purchased of the two.
Join the conversation by joining the Official Charts community and dropping comment.
Already registered?
Log in
No account?
Register
Jonathan Morter
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9f6f7708ad23b045818e20bc7f2bdfb0358af86188ebf84b6f105893e49c7521.jpg Thank you for the kind comments and to this day we still get lots of feedback on the campaign despite it being a decade ago! For 2022...STUFF THE TORIES and forget the sausage rolls
Geoffrey St. John
Socialism wins
BleeUK
In my Reality and the real calender added data, Rage Against The Machine was not Christmas #1 and knocked off durning the holiday season, as it was Joe McElderry with the Climb,. Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops still remain to not recorded on Christmas Day units or from the start of the Christmas week it self (as it a week early collected) as both media measure (Run to Christmas than Christmas week) the sales, unit and download the week before or before 25th Dec, The Climb was #1 on 27th December 2009, (data collected Sunday 20th to Saturday 26th December) for 27th December , that christmas! the start, as Rage was #1 Killing in the Name on 20th December (Data Collected 13-19th Dec 2009 only) that the week before! Rage was only #1 for one week only. so the battle was clear it was Joe
Rob Parkinson
But had that been advertised as the actually Christmas No.1 then people would have purchased Rage against the machine in that week instead and it would still have been the Christmas No.1 either way they would have won it regardless. Your case may continue for other years but this one whatever was advertised as the Xmas No.1 was the week in which the country rallied to prevent it from being X-Factor again
Jonathan Morter
tl;dr - Christmas No.1 chart that year was 13-19 December hence I focussed all the ammo on that week only. It worked perfectly. It was Christmas No.1
I've had a good chat with Joe in the years since and he has no issue with it
BleeUK
Joe maybe happy with it, I feel sorry for him still, as climb was at Christmas time #1 hit . but how is the race from 13th to 19th Christmas number one . The 25th needs to be added . And on the 27th joe was top as that was the sales and units back in 2009 from 20th to 26th. Rage was before, radio 1 is still a week behind to this date of Christmas charts . This year 30th December is more accurate as that from 23rd to 29th data the Christmas data for me I love the next chart the best the one week after Christmas charts from radio 1 as that is Christmas week data
BleeUK
well he may have no issue with it i feel sorry for him still, as the Christmas charts data is always taking a week before and never at Christmas , like you say you did 13-19 December, for 20th December and i respect that, and your right it Christmas Tracking week, but where is the 25th Dec Data, well the truth is Joe Was Christmas #1 as the climb knocked Rage Against The Machine off on 27th December, there were charts on radio 1 i heard it, 27th Dec when Joe was top it was the True Christmas Week as that data was 20th to 26th December. yeah people may have the time off on 25th December but with the catch up information of the data and from 25th December counts, not before 25th December as Christmas hasn't reached it yet!