Before we even start, let's not kid ourselves that the Christmas Number One has ever been good. The list of musical crimes is long and winding. Rolf Harris beat The Beatles' with 'Two Little Boys'... St Winifred's School Choir, Bob The Builder, Mr Blobby and Renée and Renato have all appeared at the Christmas top spot. Let's not forget Cliff Richard's dubious entries into this supposed holy grail slot.

However, this year, we've got a very different beast. A Facebook campaign is trying to get 'Killing in the Name' by Rage Against The Machine to the top of the charts and so far, it's going well.

A report from the official chart people this morning saw Rage Against The Machine just ahead of McElderry. 'Killing in the Name' currently accounts for 50.3% of the total sales of the two tracks combined with 'The Climb' accounting for 49.7%.

'The lead continues to change and it looks like it will go down until the very last minute before we know who the winner in this chart battle will be,' said Julian Monaghan, head of music buying at Amazon.co.uk Ltd. 'Should Rage Against The Machine take the number one spot, it will be the most unlikely Christmas number one in UK music history. 'Killing in the Name' would certainly be an interesting addition on the track lists of the Christmas compilation albums that come out every year.'

A price war has broken out, with Joe McElderry's version of The Climb available from as little as 29p (from Tesco and Amazon.co.uk). However, as most X Factor fans will be buying the CD over the download, we'll have to wait until Wednesday for a fairer reflection of how the songs are matching up to each other.

Who do you think will win the battle for the Christmas top-spot? Do you even care?

[Bitterwallet]