They realised they had no money to download the single after they spent all of it on voting for Joe!

Actually we could file that under 'You know that U.K is still in recession when?.....'

Really?
What poll is that from?

Also, are we talking 'the vast majority of people' in the world? In the UK? In a certain demographic?

Well done to RATM, finally number one, only took them 17 years to do it! Better late than never! Fantastic news, hope they come bak to the UK on tour. They are one of the best live acts I have seen.

Don't know but I think it's the first ever number one that was only available as a download.

Well that's a load of rubbish. The vast majority of people haven't heard of RATM? They used to be quite big, so I very much doubt your statement is true.

What's Facebook got to do with it? I don't like Facebook either, but the fact that this campaign was advertised on it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The internet is bound to play a role in uniting people around various causes these days, it's good to see it put to this kind of use once in a while.

As for bastardising RATM, again I disagree. They have endorsed the campaign, and I would too if I were them.

It seems to me that people are taking this way too seriously. It is not world-changing and it will hardly loosen Cowell's grip on the music industry. But it shows that there are a few people out there that still care about music; plus some money made for charity, no harm done really. That sweet little Xfactor boy's career won't be determined by this in any way either, and the whole thing has nothing to do with him personally.

The reason I am very positive about this is because I like it when people make some noise, show that they are alive and still care about things going on around them. I also like it when things out of the ordinary happen, when people have new ideas and try to make things happen outside the standard channels of the market. I just wish there were more campaigns like this, not limited to the charts, just protest and noise for all sorts of things; you know, people just being a little bit spontaneous and creative. It might not make the world a better place, but it certainly makes it more interesting.

Very good point. I don't see how anyone can believe that the vast majority of Xfactor single buyers are actually making a choice that has anything to do with music and 'liking the song'.

Run by Leona got to No.1 and that was download only. Can't remember about other songs though.

raaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

it really did it! and by a good margin in the end

Delighted RATM beat Joe to number 1

I guess this means Rage will be performing on the Top Of the Pops christmas special

I thought people bought X Factor winning songs because millions of teenagers are sucked into and obsessed with all the winners ?

Kind of like when the Jackson 5 dominated the 60s and 70s, when the Osmands dominated the 70s, when Bros dominated the 80s, when Take That dominated the 90s.

X factor finally lost it's grip this weekend, and may it long continue.

Respect to you for admitting it

And next week's number 1 will be...

I'm a bit gutted to be honest. Not because I like Joe but I love RATM and have their album from the first time round. I have lots of memories associated with every song on it and I don't like the fact that it is now commercialised in the sense that people will know of them purely for this reason. Their albulm is fantastic and I loved the fact that I would play it and often no one would know who it was.

Disgruntled angry 'old' woman.

This made me giggle on have your say on the BBC website:-


Bit in bold was the best

Glad Simon and his show, like the Christmas turkey, got stuffed.
Pity the RATM track is so bad though.

I disagree. Rage againt the machine were pretty big in the early 90s.. They were getting a lot of air play big time along with the likes of similar bands like Ugly Kid Joe and Faith No More back in 93.

You would be suprised how many people have re-bought the single just because it brings back old memorys like it did for me.

Any tabloid journalists still looking for a nice headline, can I suggest the following free of charge...

"The Internet killed the reality star!"

Some people must live under a rock having never heard of rage

I rebrought it. I have the album but wanted to give my support. I haven't been interested in the charts for so long it was nice to get excited about it!

You mean X Factor fans?

I do find it baffling the way that hugely popular bands like RATM are treated as though they're obscure non-entities. When I was growing up I don't think there was a single person in my social circle who hadn't heard of RATM - not that everyone liked them, but they at least knew who they were. We're talking about a band that have sold millions of albums/singles in this country, played in front of massive audiences, have headlined some of our major festivals and have been listened to by huge numbers of people for almost two decades.

Well in most media circuits, if it's not played on the radio it doesn't exist.. Although this campaign was directed at Simon Cowell & the Xfactor, It's also forced Radio 1 to play this song, Which they never ever would play in their mainstream shows.

Now i wonder if RATM's album will be played in Zane Lowe's Masterpieces next year..

I like the fact its shaken things up a bit, and I like the track though it is possibly the mosy un christmassy christmas number one ever.

Hopefully next year an act not associated with X Factor gets Xmas Number 1 by releasing a brill track and everyone buying it because its great and doesnt need a campaign. I think RATM have made artists who havent performed or won X Factor less afraid of The Winners Single.

When I first heard of this campaign at the beginning of December, I just brushed it off as another fruitless attempt at blocking the winning single. Never did I imagine, for one second, that it would actually be successful!

Can't say I like the song, but congrats to RATM for pulling it off and double congrats for finally proving that just because you win the x factor doesn't give you the "right" to a number 1 single.