RATM campaign shows that public no longer cower from Cowell

THE ANNUAL battle for Christmas number one produced a shock of epic proportions as American rap metal act Rage Against The Machine beat X Factor winner Joe McElderry.

RATM's 1992 single 'Killing In The Name' became the first ever download-only Christmas number one, selling over 500,000 copies after an internet campaign.

Joe's song 'The Climb' shifted 50,000 fewer units to leave X Factor creator Simon Cowell feeling "gutted".

By contrast, the leaders of the Facebook campaign, Jon and Tracy Morter, were astounded by their success.

And, after four successive X Factor Christmas number ones, it does indeed make a refreshing change.

In fact, it is more than that.

The success of 'Killing In The Name' means 2009 will be remembered as the year that the Christmas number one race was reclaimed by the public, rather than being predetermined by Mr Cowell and his faceless executives.

It is not as if he could not have seen it coming.

Last year, a similar campaign tried to get Jeff Buckley's version of 'Hallelujah' to the coveted top spot, only for it to lose to Alexandra Burke.

This time, the internet campaign generated more publicity, including a rather controversial airing of the single when RATM appeared on BBC Five Live Breakfast.

Mr Cowell's choice of a little-known song for 18-year-old Joe to sing also appears to have done no favours for the South Shields lad.

But while Joe seemed to accept that he lost a fair fight, Mr Cowell laughably accused the campaigners of acting like a "hate mob" and even compared it to bullying.

Such an evil campaign was this that it raised £65,000 for homeless charity Shelter!

Personally, I bought neither. I was too busy listening to Brit pop when RATM were at their peak in the mid-1990s.

Meanwhile, I have never made a habit of buying the X Factor winner's single.

But, simply for the fact that this was a victory for the 'little man', I was glad of the result. I only wished it had featured Noddy Holder or someone equally as festive instead.

I imagine Mr Cowell will get over his disappointment quickly enough.

Like him, both acts are attached to Sony and, with combined sales of almost one million copies, he will have earned a nice Christmas bonus.

He must also consider that any damage to the X Factor's dominance will have been negligible.

Just last week, the show pulled in more than 19 million viewers, almost unheard of figures outside of England football matches and the occasional soap opera episode.

Make no doubt about it - the X Factor will be back next year and probably stronger than ever.

But the campaigners will also be back to ensure that the Christmas number one is never again a shoo-in for the X Factor winner.