Facebook 1: 0 Simon Cowell - Rage Against The Machine is UK #1 single for Xmas

[handelaar]

Why we might care: for the last several years the winner of Cowell's reality TV show has been propelled immediately to #1 in time for the culturally-significant-for-Brits Xmas Top 40.

This year a backlash campaign to shove 'Killing in the Name' above it took off on Facebook and, in an unlikely outcome, the people who joined the group actually followed through and bought the RATM track during the correct time window.

(The link was posted before the programme aired on BBC Radio 1 and turned out to be completely accurate.)

[natrius]

"the culturally-significant-for-Brits Xmas Top 40"

You've just made an entire storyline from Love Actually make more sense to me.

[Batsu]

Strange how this explanation changes a flagged post into a genuinely interesting one.

[motters]

Personally I don't care about the views of Simon Cowell. I doubt that the music charts accurately reflect what people are actually listening to, due to the diversity of ways in which music can now be obtained and played.

[lukifer]

The musical angle is secondary. The real story is that a centralized cultural influence (Cowell) was overshadowed by a distributed cultural influence (Facebook).

[petercooper]

The UK chart is quite representative of music purchases, compared to most national charts, as it includes downloads from all of the major players. That doesn't cover piracy, free downloads, or certain types of streaming (e.g. Spotify) but has a significant reach IMHO.

[cruise02]

I'm sure Simon is crying all the way to the bank over this.

[omouse]

It's not about the money. It's about the message. Even if all the albums cost $0, the message would remain the same. Not everything in the world is about money or banks or finances (no matter how much that's mentioned on HackerNews...)

[notauser]

The big winner was Sony, who profit from sales of either.

[axod]

I think the real point is that it puts the next series of xFactor in jeopardy.

It's a signal that a lot of the public are sick to death of the formulaic rubbish tossed out by these reality shows.

So if I was Simon, I'd be pretty worried now.

[msie]

Facebook:1 Simon Cowell:0 ?

[scorxn]

The syntax in the headline is common outside the US. eg: http://livescore.com/

[zandorg]

I read it as "A record by Simon Cowell called Rage Against The Machine is UK #1 single for Xmas". Your formatting is better.

[mtrimpe]

Still, stuff like this makes me excited again about seeing the next 40 years unfold ...

[Quarrelsome]

Why we might care: We now have every right to put on "Killing in the name of" in response to tired, vacuous and bland xmas songs that are a pain to tolerate every year.

[colbyolson]

I'm in favor of anything relating to RATM. Brings me back, infact, I think I'll listen to some right now. :-)

[rms]

Rage performs live on the BBC, including a surprise ending that shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx19x9xPB8o

[lionhearted]

You know, I thought pop music might've turned a corner a few years ago when producers were starting to use more electronic elements in pop. I thought there'd be some decent, slightly innovative pop music coming out in the future. I was mistaken.

[gabrielroth]

I'm a little confused by this comment. Electronic elements have been a mainstay of pop production for a quarter of a century.