Rage Against The Machine’s Killing In The Name voted UK's favourite Christmas number one of all time

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By ( Metal Hammer ) published

Stick that in your pipe and smoke it Simon Cowell

Rage Against The Machine
(Image credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Whether you're a fan of Christmas music or not, we think it's fair to say that after so many years, listening to the same mix of Wham's Last Christmas, The Pogue's Fairytale Of New York and anything by Michael Bublé is somewhat tiring. That's why in 2009 it was a refreshing and amusing moment when Rage Against The Machine stole the Christmas number one spot with their defiant anthem Killing In The Name, as part of an organised ploy to make sure the position wasn't given to yet another Simon Cowell X Factor clone.

And better news yet, in a recent poll in celebration of the 70th Christmas chart battle and The Official Christmas No.1 Singles Book, UK music fans have voted for their all time favourite holiday chart topper.

Organised in partnership with Nine Eight Books, the results reveal that the Rage classic stole the crown as being the best Christmas no.1 ever. And if that doesn't restore your faith in the holiday season, we don't know what will. 

After three weeks of voting, the final selection saw Spice Girls’ 1996 hit 2 Become 1 up against the Rage song. As 41,000 votes were counted, Rage snuck into first place with 51% of the vote.

The original campaign to get RATM to the top spot of the Christmas charts, to ensure Cowell wouldn't get his grubby hands on a Christmas number one for the fifth year running, was set up by Jon and Tracy Morter. Jon declared “I’m humbled to think that a small idea in a kitchen in Essex a few years back has been officially crowned the Nation’s Favourite Christmas Number 1.

"It was the people’s Number 1, using the people’s song…a song that even the band themselves now claim is owned by all of us, not them, so I’m not surprised it has won considering these challenging times we’re living in. Rage on!”

Liz Scarlett
Liz Scarlett
Content Editor

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.