If you’ve ever asked a British person their favourite Christmas song, and they responded with Killing in the Name, it’s about to make sense.
Rage Against the Machine‘s 2009 protest anthem has officially been named the UK’s favourite Christmas number 1 of all time. We have oh so many questions.
Over three weeks the nation voted in a poll accumulating in a showdown between Killing in the Name, and the Spice Girls 2 Become 1. It was a close race towards the end, with Rage coming out on top with 51% of the vote.
Okay, we’ll bite – how was the early 90’s anti-establishment tirade against the ills of American society, ever a Christmas number one? It’s a pretty iconic story of the common people rising up against the music industry Goliaths – raging against the machine if you will.
In 2009, frequent internet campaigner’s Jon and Tracy Morter were sick of the X Factor winner from each year, for five years in a row, achieving the UK Christmas number one. So, they kicked off a social media campaign to see Killing in the Name take the top spot.
Simon Cowell himself called the campaign stupid and cynical, which of course helped it gain more traction. It ended up selling over 500,000 copies in the week leading up to Chrissy, and BBC Radio 1 announced it had become the UK Christmas number one for 2009. Iconic.
Fast forward to the current day, and the Official Charts, in partnership with Nine Eight Brooks, launched a poll to delineate the nations favourite Christmas number one of all time, and Killing in the Name battled it out, and went home with the crown.
It’s time for the final vote in the search for the UK’s Favourite Christmas Number 1 – after two *extremely* close semis, our finalists have been chosen!@spicegirls & @RATM fans: buckle up, the poll will feature in the next tweet 🎁@nineeightbooks / https://t.co/msaFjGDh88 pic.twitter.com/vaYkvxjyAZ
— Official Charts (@officialcharts) December 15, 2021
