In the end, Rage won. And not by just a little. They sold 500,000 copies of “Killing” in just one week, 50,000 more than McElderry.
Excuses started being made immediately. Someone suggested that bad weather in parts of England stopped X Factor fans from visiting the shops.
You have to hand it to Cowell, though. He called the Morters in Essex last night from his house in Barbados and congratulated them on a well-executed campaign. He even offered them jobs ---but they turned him down.
Rage is over the top. A “large portion” of the not-insubstantial proceeds from the single will go to a charity called Shelter. Here’s what Tom had to say:
“It's trying to save the UK pop charts for this abyss of bland mediocrity. Don't believe it has anything to do with Simon Cowell personally. I like that guy. He's a great entertainer. He's going to do fine with his No. 2 this Christmas. What you're seeing is real democracy.”
And don’t overlook the technological aspect of this. None of this would have happened without the social media power of Facebook and the ability to purchase downloads online. “Killing” is the first-ever Number One download-only single—and it set a record for the greatest number of download sales in a single week in the history of UK charts.
I wonder if the Morters will get any other job offers as new media consultants? Don’t bet against it.
To read more, go here.
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