Having failed to achieve the coup in Ireland in the charts announced on Friday, where RATM were at No.2 to McElderry's No.1, there must have been some uncertainty about the outcome in the UK.

However the internet campaign to keep the X-Factor winner off the top spot – started by an Essex DJ, Jon Morter – succeeded in Britain with 'Killing In The Name Of' selling 500,000 copies to beat McElderry's cover of Miley Cyrus' 'The Climb' by 50,000, thus making it the official UK Christmas No.1. The song was chosen for the anti X-Factor campaign at least in part because of the shouted finale in which the immortal line "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me" is repeated over 10 times.

‘Killing In The Name Of’ is unlikely to be getting a lot of daytime radio exposure.

While it may be seen as mud in the eye of Simon Cowell – whose charges have dominated the charts every Christmas for four years – it was a classic win-win situation for Sony Music, who handle both singles. There is now speculation that Rage Against The Machine will be the Irish Christmas No.1 too, as there is another chart announced on December 24...