As per tradition the Sunday before Christmas day the Official U.K. Top 40 Music Chart including the famed number one song will be announced and played to the nation. This year though there maybe a reason to actually take note and tune in.

Call it a social experiment, a campaign against the predictable or a uprising to topple manufactured pop, this years number one will be the most hotly contested and debated for years.

This is thanks to a Facebook group started out of frustration, frustration that this year much like every over for the past few years the top song has been decided months before any of them go on sale.

Why? The X Factor, the reality T.V. show were young and talented individuals and groups battle it out to claim a recording contract, hundreds of thousands of pounds in investment and the expertise of Simon Cowell, arguably the biggest music executive in the U.K. along with his record label and the corporate machine that comes with it.

That’s a pretty big opposing force and one that couldn’t not be taken on so lightly but Jon and Tracey Morter are doing it with the help of their own army consisting of people from all walks of life. At one point the group had amassed over 770,000 people but technical problems had meant a member reset.

Still with this in mind they’re demanding change and they want you, me and the whole of the U.K to back them. They are also collecting money that is being donated to Shelter a charity organisation for the homeless with an honourable £32,000 being given so far by music fans.

So it all seems pretty clear, choice vs popular opinion (we’ll let you decide which is which). Still, is this what the Christmas No. 1 is all about? Neither songs are Christmas themed and the RATM song choice seems to go against the very nature of what the band stood for. Thankfully Tom Morello RATM’s guitarist has given his backing to the campaign urging the U.K that it is their time!

In general it seems that for the first time in a few years we may not know the winner until the day itself, which surely equates to being a positive in a chart that had all but lost it’s Christmas fizz.

What’s Mr Cowell saying about all this?

“If there’s a campaign, and I think the campaign’s aimed directly at me, it’s stupid,”

“I think it’s quite a cynical campaign geared at me which is actually going to spoil the party for these three [contestants]. I also think it’s incredibly dismissive of the people who watch and enjoy the show… to treat our audiences as if they’re stupid and I don’t like that.”

Simon, Simon, it’s not your moment, remember it’s about the winner, right?

• Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No. 1 – Official Group

In fairness we would post the X Factor for No. 1 group here as well but….There isn’t one. No joke.

Simon Cowell has branded the Facebook campaign to get Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing In The Name’ to the Christmas Number One slot ahead of this year’s winner of The X Factor “stupid” and “cynical”.

Over 550,000 people have joined the Facebook group, which urges members to download ‘Killing In The Name’ on Sunday (December 13) to prevent the Christmas Number One being held by the show’s winner for the fifth year in a row.

Watch the press conference here: