Don't expect to hear Rage Against The Machine on American Idol judge Simon Cowell's Christmas playlist this holiday season.

The reunited Los Angeles rockers - backed by the 500,000-member Facebook group 'Rage Against The Machine for Christmas No. 1' - beat X-Factor winner Joe McElderry for the coveted top spot on the U.K. singles chart this week... With a song that is as old as McElderry.

Referred to as 'Christmas No. 1,' the top of the Christmas-week U.K. singles chart used to be a hard-fought prize of the British music scene - until Cowell's X-Factor [think British American Idol] emerged and left all the competition in its wake.

For four years running, the annual X-Factor champion has claimed the Christmas No. 1.

This year, a grass roots campaign begun by Rage fans Jon and Tracy Morter helped make "Killing in the Name"  the fastest-selling download in U.K. history, and the first download-only Christmas No. 1.

"Killing in the Name" is Rage Against The Machine's signature song, and was in the set during the band's first live performance, Oct. 23, 1991 - only four months after MeElderry was born on June 16, 1991.

In stark contrast to the squeaky clean X-Factor winner, "Killing in the Name" is perhaps best-known for the line "F.ck you I won't do what you tell me," which is repeated throughout the anti-establishment song.

The track was released as the lead single from the band's self-titled debut in November 1992, and at the time peaked at No. 25 on the U.K. singles chart.

On this week's chart, the single sold 500,000 copies to re-enter 19 years later at No. 1, while X-Factor winner Joe McElderry tallied sales of 450,000 with his cover of Miley Cyrus' "The Climb." 

Watch videos of both songs below.

WELCOME TO THE MACHINE

In an interesting bit of irony, the Morter's desire to take down one machine has helped to strengthen another - both singles are Sony Music Entertainment properties, with Rage Against The Machine calling Epic home, and McElderry signed to Simon Cowell's Syco Music, a Sony label.

To help their cause, Rage Against The Machine promised to play a free show in the U.K. during 2010 if the song reached No. 1, and have also said they would donate a substantial portion of profits from the track to the homeless charity Shelter.

Also, Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello spent considerable time on Twitter this past week, updating fans on the band's progress against the X-Factor single.

"Race is close! Every man, woman, and child in the UK needs to download Killing in the Name RIGHT NOW to topple X-Factor monopoly. Yes we can," he said in a Twitter post Friday morning. Less than 12 hours later, he posted: "NEWS FLASH: RAGE ANNOUNCE THEY WILL PLAY MASSIVE FREE VICTORY GIG IN UK IF "KILLING IN THE NAME" IS NUMBER ONE XMAS SINGLE!!! Let's go!!!!"

"Finish line is in sight! Will David smite Goliath? Will Luke Skywalker destroy the Death Star? Will Frodo defeat Sauron? UK-it's now or never," he posted Saturday.

"THE ANARCHY CHRISTMAS MIRACLE OF 2009!!!! THANK YOU. The people united can never be defeated," he posted upon receiving news that Rage fans delivered the single to the top of the charts - "Quite a day! Thanks again for making Rage part of this historic campaign. Changing the charts or the world: together we can't be stopped."

JOURNEY TO THE TOP 10

Elsewhere on the chart, Miley Cyrus' original version of "The Climb" - which peaked at No. 11 in May - re-entered the new chart at No. 31.

Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" fell from No. 1 on last week's singles chart to No. 3.

In another chart oddity, Journey's classic track "Don't Stop Believin'" - a song often covered on X-Factor - climbed to No. 9, becoming the band's first-ever Top 10 single in the U.K.

Follow National Music Examiner Paul Gargano on Twitter: @PaulGargano

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