The 18-year-old performer had been involved in a battle for the UK’s number one Christmas single with US protest heavy rock band Rage Against The Machine following a very well publicised campaign on Facebook which captivated much of the British music scene for the last few weeks.

But “The Climb” has managed to sell 196,000 copies this last week, pushing it past “In The Name” and momentarily securing second position in the singles chart.

McElderry, hailing from South Shields, was said to extremely happy about the news.

The singer thanked all the people who had supported him and had made this Chirtmas the best one for him so far.

He also wanted to extend to everyone good wishes for the New Year.

Just ahead of Christmas, the US band Rage Against The Machine managed to reach number one in the UK singles charts with a song which was released in 1993.

Rage, famous in America and elsewhere for being anti-establishment and particularly anti-Republican party, had been unwillingly pulled into the race at first when a Facebook campaign was kicked-off to counteracts musical acts generated by Simon Cowell and his XFactor talent show which were branded as dull, uninspiring and plastic-like performers devoid of soul.

At the time, Cowell had called the move stupid. Paul McCartney had commented on the race by saying he believed it would be a good thing if Rage Against The Machine would win.

Cowell himself has admitted that the X Factor show needs a make-over if it’s to remain relevant.

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The band managed the feat thanks to an online Facebook campaign which protested against what they call X Factor guru Simon Cowell’s own brand of dull and faceless music as well as the hijacking of the music scene by generic pop acts. Although its scapegoat was talent show winner Joe McElderry with his song “The Climb”.

The 18-year-old performer was normally virtually ensured the number one, as previous XFactor winners had scored the last four Christmas chart toppers.

But husband and wife team Jon and Tracy Morter interrupted the yearly process with a very efficient Facebook campaign promoting a grassroots movement to put the Rage “Killing In The Name” to the top spot. This proved popular, with supporters downloading in excess of 500,000 copies of the track, 50,000 more than “The Climb” had been purchased.

While Cowell called the campaign cruel and stupid, the band members of Rage joined in the battle. Rage Against The Machine is the ultimate protest band, having partaken in several activities in the US. They have been known to voice their concerns about Guantanamo Bay as well as the American Republican Party, which Frontman Zack calls the power abusing party.

Even former Beatle and “X Factor” guest star Paul McCartney revealed his support for for Rage as he said their win would prove a point.

Meanwhile, British bookies had put Joe McElderry had number one, which means that the move has cost an apparent minimum of £1 million.

It’s been reported that some punters got 150/1 odds for ‘Killing In The Name’.

A coral representative for Coral told reporters that ‘Killing In The Name’ had originally kicked off with 150/1 odds to reach the Christmas number one over the track of X Factor winner McElderry ‘The Climb’.

Gary Burton of Coral said this represented the biggest Christmas upset in History, adding that now, things got interesting since the X Facto winners’ dominance of the past had sanitised the Christmas time betting event.

At the time of its original release, more than seventeen years ago, the song had reached number 25 in the charts.

This time around, the groups’ Killing In The Name track managed to sell a highly respectable 500,000 copies, in the process outperforming The Climb by X Factor winner Joe McElderry.  Rage Against The Machine edged out the young pop talent show winner with a further 50,000 copies to claim number one in the singles competition.

The success surrounding Killing In The Name Of, stemmed from an aggressive Facebook campaign masterminded for the soul purpose of stopping one of Simon Cowell’s protégés to reach the top spot.

Big winners this incredible 2-week race were undeniably music retailers.

One of them dubbed the outcome as truly remarkable, adding that the result was probably the biggest chart upset in history.

Rage Against The Machine frontman Zack De La Rocha, being interviewed on the Radio 1 chart show, expressed his happiness at reaching number one in the UK, adding that the band was very ecstatic about the result. De La Rocha promised the band would celebrate their chart win with a free UK gig in 2010.

He said the campaign’s purpose was to combat what he called ‘the sterile pop mentality’.

As for the eighteen-year-old X Factor winner Joe McElderry, he praised the campaign and its outcome, saying that he was happy to have been part of exciting and hyper-hyped battle.

The budding star was obviously gracious in defeat and didn’t seem to hold any sort of grudges towards the camoaign initiators or the band Rage Against The Machine.

It’s been said that McElderry didn’t actually lose the race, boasting similar sales as past X Factor winners.
The campaign and the use of the Killing In The Name, basically a protest song, was built around a sense of tiredness of the blatant dominance of the X Factor show in recent years and what many consider music void of any flavour and personality.

X Factor winners have won all four of the last Christmas number ones. The absolutely stunning Alexandra Burke created one of UK’s best selling Christmas singles ever with her version of Hallelujah last year.

Last four winners were:

2005: Shayne Ward, That’s My Goal
2006: Leona Lewis, A Moment Like This
2007: Leon Jackson, When You Believe
2008: Alexandra Burke, Hallelujah

The most recent odds for the talent show winner song The Climb have been put at 2/7, while ‘Killing In The Name’ by Rage Against The Machine is at 9/4.

The bookie news arrives despite The Climb being currently outsold by Killing In The Name. However, the 18-year-old performer has apparently narrowed the gap, with 40,000 copies separating him from the metal-hip-hop ensemble.

Rage Against The Machine frontman Zach De La Rocha, on Thursday morning, slammed the popular talent show as well as it’s guru judge Simon Cowell as he and his band mates performed the song live on UK radio.

Simon Cowell has been very vocal of the situation calling the smearing campaign “stupid” and “cynical”.

Meanwhile, Joe McElderry mentor and member of Girls Aloud Cheryl Cole has expressed her fury over the “mean campaign” against the X Factor winner.

Cole said she sincerely hopes her protégé’s song the Climb beats out the Rage Against The Machine track in the run for Christmas number one.

The star said it would be a devastating blow for the budding singer to fall victim of such a horrible campaign, adding that every single want to be star hopes to get a number one record.

But they are sure winners out of the fight: retailers and record company Sony. They must be thrilled with the enthusiasm and passion spurred by the quasi hateful move from the Facebook group, the movement which wants to alienate Simon Cowell and his X Factor by having the offspring of the show being blown by an underground classic.

At the time of writing, the songs had cumulated a total of 470,000 sales.

What the Facebook group doesn’t seem to realise is that they’ve managed to exasperate and contribute to the growth of what they appear to be fighting: commercial success. Their campaign is likely to end up blowing up in their own face, as it could be helping make the X Factor become more popular than ever and participate to its successful future as Cowell and his talent show dwell on controversy.

This Saturday night, Olly’s fellow budding stars Joe McElderry and Stacey Solomon will also be singing with famous performers. Solomon is set for a match up with Michael Buble and McElderry with George Michael, talent guru Simon Cowell explained at a press conference.

The three final X Factor contestants claimed to be adapting to the pressure of reaching the ultimate showdown.

Stacey said she believed this was her best week in terms of dealing with the pressure because it was down to the last three, thus ensuring that everyone gets a “medal”. She added to be feeling relaxed and happy.

As for Joe, he said he hyperventilates before entering the stage but puts all his nerves into his show.

Olly said he would just try to enjoy himself and have some fun.

Simon Cowell, apart from signing the X Factor winner, has not confirmed any plans to contract other participants with his record label.

He added that the agreement for the next series had still not been finalized.

Judge Cheryl Cole, who is believed to be carrying out planning stages to launch her American singing career, was asked what would be her price to return to the show and whether she’d consider another season if the performer she’s godmothering, Joe McElderry, wins the competition.

Cole replied that she would need a couple of months to consider her options, adding that Cowell is currently on his best behaviour with her.

In other X Factor news, the Facebook which is trying to out due the show’s Christmas album by urging people to purchase a 1992 track by Rage Against The Machine instead has exasperated Simon Cowell.

The pop talent champion as called to move “stupid” and “cynical”.

So far, more than 556,000 has pledged people had pledged to buy the song of “Killing In The Name.”