With 19 million viewers that day isn't very close!

if cowell can't promise a xmas #1 every year then i can see the xfactor been moved to the summer time.

Last year peter kay tried, this year rage will try (currently #1 on downloads) and every year some one will challenge until its done

Xmas number one doesn't make any extra money for Cowell and thats all he cares about.

Not any more....

Hopefully, X Factor peaked this year and should start to flatline and go down.

That day can't come soon enough.

Sorry guys this wont work...

Joe has now pulled ahead of RATM and is No1.

funny that, seen has this series of xfactor has made around 100million thus far.

The rich get rich and the poor get poorer.

Simon cowell knows his viewers. He knows they are easy to manipulate and he's been doing it now for the past 5 years.

What an absolute embarrasment it will be when this new winners song gets number 1. It's not even as good as the miley version, and that really puts it into perspective.

it's subjective.

not everyone likes the winners' song, but then not everyone likes miley's version better either.

and certainly not everyone will be "embarrassed" if it gets to number one.

You're kidding right? X-Factor is a television programme beyond anything else. ITV don't care if the single hits no.1, so it will have no effect on whether the show succeeds or not.

If someone does beat it to the Christmas no.1 (let's hope when it happens it's a song that gets there on merit rather than an orchestrated movement) it won't damage the show, it'll just mean they can yap on about returning to the top in the next series, while that annoying voiceover screams and all the fireworks and lasers shoot about.

As it stands now, the only thing that can stop X-Factor is Simon Cowell getting bored, failing to negotiate, etc. The show is clearly wildly popular, and a chart placing really won't change that.

Anyone with a decent musical education would be embarrased.
It's pathetic that people watch one man and listen to that one man only. Think his opinion is the be all and end all.

Waste their money buying this pathetic excuse for a winners song and then moan about a credit crunch, while Simon cowell takes in a cool 100million for the show.

The miniute Simon cowell made it was the miniute he realised that the majority of the public will believe everything they see/hear. Manipulation on a major scale.

couldn't agree more. simon won't lose any money if the winners' song doesn't get to number one - "having a number one record at christmas is not going to change my life particularly".

it puzzles me that some people's reason for buying the RATM song is in an attempt to "piss off simon cowell". like he'll care

now this may shock you, but i watch the show (listening to what each of the judges have to say, including simon) and i've never bought any of the acts' music afterwards.

the x factor is a saturday night family entertainment show - don't blow it out of proportion. viewers like a contestant, they vote for them because they want them to win, and if/when they do, they buy their music because they want to support them and genuinely like them.

i think it's ridiculous the way some people blindly assume anyone buying the winners' song has been "brainwashed" or told what to do by simon cowell. it's insulting and, to be honest, a little bit stupid to assume every single person buying joe's song is doing so because simon or cheryl has manipulated them into it. i can't speak for everyone on that matter, but simon can't perform magic - people can think for themselves, and believe it or not a lot of people choose to.

when i decide to buy someone's single or album, it's because i've heard what they do, like it, and want to show my appreciation of the music they've made - why are people buying the x factor single automatically any different?

who are you basing these sweeping generalizations on?

What puzzles me is that people buy the winners song purely because it is the winners song.

What is so wrong with people actively seeking out a campaign to bring a bit of competition back to the chritmas number one?
There is nothing puzzeling about it. Yet you seem to talk about these people with such contempt.

Surely it's Better than mindlessly sitting infront of the tv everynight voting for what's it's face because Simon tells you he's a goog singer, when any normal person can hear that all they will ever be is an average singer.

Why would it be a shock that you watch the show when all you have done is stand up for it?
I think you are viewing things through rose tinted glasses. Manipulation is a major part of the show. Why else would they always have a sob story? Emotional manipulation.

remind me of joe's sob story?

the "shock" part, is that i watch it and yet i'm not buying the winners' single and never have bought a winners' single. i'm not "standing up" for the show for the sake of the show, i'm defending anyone's right to buy/download whichever song they want to.

why does simon's "manipulation" and brainwashing not work on me, or anyone i know, if everyone buying the single has been coerced into it by him?

maybe because you're probably not a hysterical 10-year-old kid who is stupid enough to believe what Cowell tells you.

come on, surely you're not saying you honestly think the vast majority of people who are buying the winner's song are doing so because they actually think it's good?

there was no sweeping generalisation - i said some people, and if you read over this thread a lot of posts cite "pissing off simon cowell" as their reason for buying the song. so, not a generalisation. they genuinely are "some people".

there's no contempt on my part, and there's nothing wrong with the campaign itself, save for the way i've personally experienced it: people i know joining a group they want nothing more to do with after clicking 'join', then telling me (somewhat ironically) to buy it so i can be cool and alternative like them.

"killing in the name (of)" has been one of my favourite songs for a number of years, and i just think its legacy about fighting injustice, oppression and government wrongdoings has been reduced to 'the song we tried to get to number one that year', belittling it to a weapon in attempting to annoy simon cowell - that's what puzzles me.

and if everyone was going to listen to simon and really do what he wanted, why didn't one of his own acts win? that's who he's been encouraging people to vote for.

thank you for the first part of your post, it does happen to be true

i can't speak for everyone so i won't say anything about the "vast majority" as i can only go from what i know, but what i'm trying to say when it's all boiled down is... it's not everyone.

true enough, you get the tweenagers who'll vote for someone because they're pretty, or because that's what cheryl would want them to do.

but to assume the same about everyone, when the show is watched by an average of 16-17m people each week who span all age ranges, is the part i find hard to digest.

especially when a lot of x factor forum members who have lost their favourite act (they feel) too early in the competition have gone on to buy the RATM as a protest. if cowell brainwashed or manipulated everyone who watches, what happened to these souls?

Joe's beginning to extend his lead now....

But the people taking part in the show do care. They want to be rich and famous and X-Factor guarantees that with their 3-4 months of constant promotion.

But who remembers who came 2nd?

usually, i'd agree. but regardless of whether you or i like them or not, jls are doing pretty well for themselves. as is rhydian.

ARGGGHHH THIS IS DOING MY NUT IN

The Christmas number 1 is supposed to be a bit of fun. It would be funny to see RATM take it from The X Factor because it's so totally the opposite to it (a bit like Lordi winning Eurovision in 2006), but people are being so God damn serious about it. The minute you start to think it has any real point is the minute the fun is taken away.

Take a look at what's topped the charts this year and all you're doing is placing a golden crown on a massive pile of horseshit.

round of applause for you.

Xfactor Talks about going HEAD to Head against rage


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6pYy_8Trfs

Don't worry you haven't I certainly would refer to anyone wasting there money on buying a single just to get it to number one as mindless and just as mindless as people who buy the x factor single for the same reason, however most of the prentenious campaigners seem to think they are being really clever and controversial and making a real difference, when in reality they are just swelling the coffers of already very wealthy people. Seriously buy what you like, if you cared about music you wouldn't care about the charts.