RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Beats X-Factor's Joe and Simon Cowell

MUSIC NEWS - RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE has released the following statement after their upset victory in the historic people’s campaign to beat Simon Cowell for Britain’s No. 1 Christmas single to raise money and awareness for homelessness:  

“Rage Against the Machine is honored to have been drafted by this historic grassroots campaign to make our song ‘Killing in the Name’ the No. 1 song on the UK Christmas Week pop chart. This is a huge victory by and for fans of real music and we extend our heartfelt thanks to every fan and freedom fighter who helped make our anthem of defiance and rebellion the Anarchy Christmas Miracle of 2009.

“As promised we will play a free concert in the UK in celebration of this incredible upset victory over the heavily favored X-Factor single. We are also pleased that so much money has been raised for homeless charity Shelter and are happy to donate as well to aid this important cause. While there are many lessons that can be drawn from this historic upset, the main one is this: that ordinary people, banding together in solidarity, can change ANYTHING, be it the pop charts or the world.”

Their winning song which was originally released in 1992, sold more than 500,000 copies in the week leading up to the end of business on Saturday to beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry's “The Climb” to the top of the chart, the Official Charts Company announced.

McElderry got to sales of 450,000, but sales of his CD fell away over the past few days. In taking the title for 2009, “Killing in the Name” also sets two new landmarks, becoming the UK's first download-only Christmas number one and notching up the biggest one-week download sales total in British chart history.

Rage Against the Machine led the race for #1 right from the beginning of the week. By Friday morning, according to the Official Charts Company, Rage Against the Machine held the lead by only 9,000 copies. But “Killing in the Name” went on to sell 200,000 copies across Friday and yesterday to emerge victorious.

Congrats to RATM and their work!  More @ RATM.com