Hold the phone! Rage Against The Machine have a 10% lead over Joe McElderry in the first midweek sales figures in the run-up to the Christmas chart this weekend.
‘Killing In The Name’ has sold 83,000 copies in two days, compared to McElderry’s ‘The Climb’, currently sitting on 77,000.
Things to bear in mind: ‘The Climb’ only went on sale late Sunday night, meaning ‘Killing In The Name’ got a slight head-start… obviously that’s irrelevant, but bear in mind that ‘The Climb’ has sold more in a shorter space of time. It also sits at No1 on iTunes at the moment, and when the CD single is released tomorrow it’ll no doubt recieve a massive boost.
But even if ‘The Climb’ is still likely to make No1, this is a pretty big development in the ‘X Factor’ Christmas Chart domination backlash. But since when have Christmas No1s been good anyway? Before Shayne Ward started the run in 2005 the festive chart-toppers included Bob The Builder and that ‘Mad World’ shit. In fact the only recent Christmas No1 that’s actually been a tune in its own right has been Girls Aloud’s ‘Sound of the Underground’ in 2002; even that being the result of a reality TV show.
It’d also be a shame for poor Joe to be the victim of the backlash… this campaign first reared its head weeks ago, long before Joe emerged as a likely winner, and it’d be a shame for an 18 year-old kid with no experience in this ruthless industry to take the flak for something that Simon Cowell is responsible for. It’s also a shame (though admittedly it moves in swings and roundabouts) that if Rage… were to hit No1 this weekend then it’d be a Christmas No1 out of spite. At least with ‘X Factor’ No1s it’s fans rallying behind a newcomer to the industry – a newcomer in a twisted, ITV1 pyrotechnic-heavy, money-grabbing kind of way, but again, why should they take the flak from the ITV1/Simon Cowell money-making machine?
It’ll never happen, but the solution to the problem is simply for the winner’s single to be released on a different week; perhaps the week after the Christmas chart. If the final were to be held this weekend coming instead of last weekend, the record would miss the Christmas chart, but it would have an open shot at being No1 over New Year; a chart which is famous for being static and uneventful because all the big shit happened the week before. This would also end the massive backlash against the run of reality-based festive No1s and make Simon Cowell just that inch less loathed.
Plus, at least ‘The Climb’ is remotely festive, in a balls-out shamelessly cheesy ballad kind of way…
Also in the Christmas chart while we’re on it, Cheryl Cole’s ’3 Words’ is set to enter the Top 10, as is George Michael’s Christmas single. Miley’s orginal version of ‘The Climb’ has re-entered the Top 30, and Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ is set to make a surprisingly high re-entry to the chart thanks to Joe’s performance of it over the weekend.
