O Fortuna is 'most listened to classical piece'

The list features music played on TV and radio and in public places

O Fortuna, Carl Orff's composition from his 1937 oratorio Carmina Burana, has been named the UK's most widely heard classical track.

The piece, which recently featured on ITV talent show The X Factor, topped a list of the most played classical music of the past 75 years.

The top 30 most played recordings were revealed in BBC Radio 2 programme, The People's Classical Chart, on Monday.

Vaughan Williams's Fantasia On A Theme was in second place.

Third place went to a 1990 recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade by the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Charles Mackerras.

He said he was "delighted" the work had received so much play.

Latin poem

The list was compiled for BBC Radio 2 by royalties collection body PPL from songs played on TV, radio, online streaming and in public places such as shops.

German composer Orff's chart-topper was inspired by a medieval Latin poem. The stirring piece has been featured in anything from Michael Jackson tours to pre-match warm-ups for clubs such as Fulham and Doncaster Rovers.

TOP TEN Orff - O Fortuna (Kurt Eichhorn) Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis (Bernard Haitink) Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade (Charles Mackerras) Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty (Mikhail Pletnev) Schumann - Romance In F Sharp Major Op 28/2 (Joseph Cooper) Delibes - Sylvia (Richard Bonynge) Rachmaninov - Symphony No 2 (Vladimir Ashkenazy) Holst - The Planets (James Loughran) Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty (Valery Gergiev) Schubert - Symphony No 5 (Neville Marriner)

In recent years it has been used on ITV1 talent show The X Factor to introduce the judges on stage.

The Munich Radio Orchestra's recording of O Fortuna from 1973, featuring the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Tolzer Children's Choir, is the one which has been most played, according to PPL.

Comic and musician Bill Bailey, who introduced the list on Radio 2, said: "Of course, we all knew the number one would be a 13th century Latin goliardic poem."

Classical music buff Stephen Fry, one of the show's contributors, added: "For some reason, it almost sounds satanic, although it's actually a religious piece."

Vaughan Williams' famous Fantasia was notably featured in the Russell Crowe seafaring epic Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World, as well as during TV coverage of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race.

The 1986 recording by the London Philharmonic orchestra, conducted by Bernard Haitink, claimed second spot.

The most featured work in the top 30 is Gustav Holst's The Planets, with four different recordings, including one by Manchester's Halle Orchestra - who recently recorded with rock band Elbow - at number eight.

Radio 2 head of programming Lewis Carnie said: "O Fortuna is a timeless piece of music that continues to be played, performed and loved over 70 years after its composition and this is a wonderful recording of the work."

PPL chairman Fran Nevrkla said: "This PPL People's Chart shows classical music's enduring popularity, from the great old recordings to new versions of the classics.

"We hear these recordings so often on the radio, on TV and out and about that it's good to remind ourselves of the artists and the record companies that put their time, talent and investment into making them."

Faces of the year - part one

From Robert Pattinson to Falcon Heene, Sir Peter Viggers to Shaheen Jafargholi... some of the males who have made the headlines in 2008.

Biggest selling album of decade

Blunt's Back to Bedlam was released in 2005

James Blunt's Back to Bedlam has been revealed as the biggest selling album of the decade.

Dido's No Angel was the second most popular, while her album Life For Rent also made the top 10, according to the Official Charts Company.

The most recent album to make the top 10 was X Factor winner Leona Lewis, whose 2007 album Spirit was at four.

In the US, The Beatles compilation album 1 was the top seller, while landing at number six in the UK chart.

UK TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF THE DECADE 1. James Blunt - Back to Bedlam (2005) 2. Dido - No Angels (2000) 3. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black (2006) 4. Leona Lewis - Spirit (2007) 5. David Gray - White Ladder (2000) Source: Official Charts Company

They were the only UK band to feature in the American top 10, while the UK's chart was also dominated by home-grown artists.

US disco group Scissor Sisters were the only foreign act to make a dent in the UK chart, with their eponymous debut album at number nine.

Amy Winehouse's 2006 album Back to Black was at number three in the chart.

A long-awaited follow-up has been been hindered by her personal problems, but her record label bosses are hopeful it will appear in 2010.

David Gray's White Ladder, released in 2000, made up the top 5 UK best-selling albums of the decade.

In the US, boy band N'Sync's No Strings Attached was the second biggest seller of the past 10 years, followed by Norah Jones's Come Away With Me, according to Billboard.

Rapper Eminem scored two top fivebestsellers. The Marshall Mathers album of 2000, was at four, while the 2002 follow-up, The Eminem Show, was at five.

Joe McElderry climbs to top of chart

McElderry's song was originally a hit for American star Miley Cyrus in April

X Factor winner Joe McElderry has bounced back from missing out on the Christmas number one to claim top spot with his single The Climb.

The 18-year-old lost out last week to Rage Against The Machine following a high-profile Facebook campaign.

But The Climb sold 196,000 copies in its second week to push the US rock band's single Killing In The Name down to second place in the singles chart.

South Shields singer McElderry said he was "so happy" at reaching number one.

"Thank you so much to everyone that has supported me, this had been the best Christmas ever and I want to wish everyone a very happy new year," said McElderry.

Album toppled

Rage Against The Machine's success last week followed a Facebook campaign that set out to stop a fifth consecutive Christmas chart-topper by the winner of The X Factor.

The campaign's instigators had specifically asked supporters to download the Rage Against The Machine track - initially a number 25 hit in 1993 - in the week running up to the Christmas chart on December 20, meaning it has done well to maintain a high chart position a week later.

Lady Gaga's Bad Romance remained in third place this week, and Cheryl Cole's single Three Words jumped from seventh to fourth.

Starstrukk by 3OH!3 featuring Katie Perry was fifth, while Black Eyed Peas were sixth with Meet Me Halfway.

Completing the top 10 were Journey, Rihanna, Robbie Williams and Kesha.

In the album charts, Michael Buble's Crazy Love replaced Susan Boyle's I Dreamed a Dream at the top.

Snow gives parts of UK first white Christmas since 2004

Scotland has had its worst winter weather for 20 years

Snow has fallen in parts of the UK to make the first white Christmas for five years, the Met Office has confirmed.

An official white Christmas requires a single flake to be observed falling in the 24 hours of 25 December. The first fell in Watnall, Notts, and Glasgow.

Snow is forecast for Edinburgh, Cumbria and the Peak District, while 5cm (2in) could fall in Northern Ireland, south-west Scotland and northern England.

Some 10cm could fall on high ground but much of the rest of the UK will escape.

Ice and fog will continue to cause problems, however.

There are severe weather warnings for widespread icy roads in north-east Scotland, north-east England, the Midlands, Wales and south-west England

Bookmakers had been expecting to pay out on one of the nation's favourite annual wagers, with William Hill making Aberdeen the odds-on favourite to see snow at 4/6. Edinburgh and Glasgow were offered at 10/11.

The Christmas getaway passed off "generally smoothly"

The firm said it had a record 27,000 bets on a white Christmas with nearly 15,000 bets on London alone, which was set at odds of 2/1.

However, London is one of the areas now thought least likely see snow falling on Christmas Day.

A William Hill spokesman said: "We have potentially dodged a monster payout but we are still going to be watching Buckingham Palace like a hawk, as just a flake or two will decide whether we are going to have a festive season or not.

"We still expect to take a hit with snow in Scotland and Northern Ireland but are hopeful that London will miss out."

Other Hills odds were 13/8 Newcastle, Leeds and York, 7/4 Liverpool, Manchester and Lincoln; 2/1 Oxford, Norwich, Nottinghamshire, 9/4 Birmingham, Cambridge, Bristol, Cardiff, Belfast, Exeter, Dublin.

After days of travel disruption, the Christmas Eve getaway had passed off "generally smoothly" for motorists as weather improved across much of the UK.

Breakdown organisations had predicted up to 6m people could take to the roads on Christmas Eve and at one stage the AA was dealing with about 1,400 breakdowns per hour.

The Highways Agency has lifted roadworks at 44 sites until 3 January and a spokeswoman said Christmas Eve had been quieter than Wednesday.

Matches postponed

Andrew Howard, the AA's head of road safety, said it was possible people had waited until Christmas morning to travel.

He warned that even roads where ice had thawed could be dangerous.

"The trouble is that the salt gets washed away. If it refreezes then you don't have salt on the roads and there's very little you can do about it," he said.

"Even if a road has been salted, it doesn't mean it's safe."

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US military tracks Santa's Christmas Eve journey

This year children will have a range of hi-tech options when it comes to following the progress of Santa on Christmas Eve.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) has been tracking Santa for over 50 years.

Children can follow his progress via its website or on Twitter, Facebook or via Google Maps or Google Earth.

It is becoming the hi-tech equivalent of reading The Night Before Christmas to excited children on Christmas Eve.

Father Christmas's journey starts at 1100GMT on 24 December and children can track his progress as he passes 24 "Santa cams" around the world.

This year they can also check out Santa's village and see how well the elves are getting on with making presents.

Norad volunteers are on hand on Christmas Eve to answer e-mails about Father Christmas's journey at noradtrackssanta@gmail.com.

Norad is a military organisation that is responsible for the aerospace and maritime defence of the US and Canada.

The tradition of tracking Father Christmas goes back to a misprint in a Colorado newspaper advertisement in 1955.

The hotline to Santa promised by the paper actually connected to what was known then as the Continental Air Defense Command (Conad).

As more phone calls came in, the commander on the other end of the phone started to pretend he was Santa and the tradition continued in 1958 when Conad became Norad.

Last year volunteers received 75,000 phone calls and about 6,000 e-mails from 200 countries.

The system works, according to Norad, because Rudolph the reindeer's famous nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch.

Who's killing cock robin?

In 40 years Cypriots have given Britain kebabs, easyJet, George Michael and Stavros Flatley.

Set against these varied gifts is a rather less palatable practice that is currently in full swing. In Cyprus they are trapping British robins, roasting them and eating them for dinner.

Many robins stay in Britain all year round but each winter thousands migrate in search of warmer climes, fetching up on the Mediterranean island.

Lured with false birdsong into netted thickets, or caught on sticks dipped in a natural glue, they are among a million songbirds slaughtered and sold to restaurants as part of an illegal multimillion-pound industry.

MORE

Arnold Stang, the voice of Top Cat, dies at 91

Perfect face dimensions measured

Shania Twain: The perfect face?

Scientists believe they have worked out the dimensions of the most attractive female face.

They say the key to the ideal arrangement of female facial features is the measurements between the eyes, mouth and ears.

Applying their results, the Canadian pop singer Shania Twain was rated as having the perfect visage.

The study, led by the University of Toronto, appears in the journal Vision Research.

The researchers asked students to rate the attractiveness of colour photographs of the same woman's face, laid out side by side.

Using photoshop, the researchers altered the vertical distance between the eyes and mouth, and the horizontal distance between the eyes in each image.

Angelina Jolie does not cut the mustard

The features themselves never changed, just the distance between them, and the woman's face was only compared to her own.

Following a series of experiments, the researchers came up with the most attractive length and width ratios between features.

On length, the distance between a woman's eyes and mouth should be just over a third or 36%, of the overall length of her face, from hairline to chin.

For width, they calculated that the space between a woman's pupils should be just under half, or 46%, of the width of her face from ear to ear.

Average face

Fortunately, the researchers calculated that these ratios correspond to an average face.

The researchers said women who did not fit the "perfect dimensions" had no need to resort to extreme measures, such as plastic surgery.

They said hairstyles could be used in effect to create an optical illusion.

Elizabeth Hurley - almost there

Lead researcher Professor Kang Lee said the face of actress and renowned beauty Angelina Jolie did not fit the golden ratio either for length or width.

British actress Elizabeth Hurley scored on the golden ratio for length, and just missed out the width measurement.

Both were eclipsed by Shania Twain, 44, whose hits include Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

The results suggest her face has a perfect set of geometric measurements.

However, the study looked only at white women, and the researchers admit their findings could not be applied to other groups.

Professor David Perrett, of the perception lab at St Andrew's University, said the physical dimensions of a face provided a lot of clues about the health and fertility of the owner.

He said men tended to be attracted to female faces that were young and feminine - probably because they suggested heightened fertility.

But he said the distance between features was probably less important than the appearance of the features themselves.

For instance, a man was likely to be attracted by big eyes, rather than by the fact that they were a certain distance apart.

Morvern secures its own postcode

Royal Mail said the move would make sorting mail more efficient

A remote west coast of Scotland peninsula has won its own postcode from Royal Mail after a community campaign.

Morvern had shared PA34 with Oban even though some households are separated from the Argyll town by a 120-mile road trip or a journey involving ferries.

Following a petition to the Scottish Parliament Petitions Committee, Morvern has now been given a PA80 postcode.

The new postcode covers more than 200 properties. Royal Mail said the move would make sorting mail easier.

The petition was raised by Morvern Community Council.

Julie Morrison, Royal Mail's head of external relations in Scotland, said the organisation would only consider changing a postcode if it improves its operations.

She added: "In the case of Morvern, we examined very carefully all of the options and we are proposing this change in order to improve the efficiency of our mail services in the area.

"We look forward to receiving feedback from the local residents on the proposal."

In January, Royal Mail said some addresses in the Highlands were removed from its postcode database in error.

It said it was an "isolated local mistake" that was later rectified.

Some of those removed were understood to be for holiday homes in small communities, including Applecross in Wester Ross and on Raasay, near Skye.

Royal Mail said the only properties that should be removed were those that no longer existed, were not accessible, or had been abandoned.

Miley in top 100 of girls' names

The name Miley was made popular by the Hannah Montana star

Miley has climbed into the top 100 names for girls born in Scotland this year, according to new figures.

The name, made popular by the Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, jumped 190 places to number 95 in the list.

Jack and Lewis were the most popular names for boys, with Sophie and Olivia in second place, the Registrar General for Scotland said.

Owen was the highest climber on the list for boys, moving up 26 places to number 32.

Between them, Jack and Lewis have been the top two boys' names for the past 11 years. Jack has been number one in seven of those years and Lewis has been top for the other four.

TOP 10 BOYS' NAMES 1 - Jack 2 - Lewis 3 - James 4 - Liam 5 - Logan 6 - Daniel 7 - Aaron 8 - Ryan 9 - Cameron 10 - Callum

James climbed two places to third while Liam stayed in fourth place. Logan went up three places to fifth.

There were two new entrants to the top 20 - Lucas and Nathan. And Owen, Joseph, Tyler, Rory, Kai, Sam and Archie were new in the top 50 this year.

Sophie was the most popular girls' name for the fifth year, with Olivia climbing one place to second.

Ava rose four places to third and while Emily fell two places to fourth, Lucy climbed one place to fifth.

Amy joined the top 10 and there were two new entrants in the girls' top 20 - Lily and Mia.

TOP 10 GIRLS' NAMES 1 - Sophie 2 - Olivia 3 - Ava 4 - Emily 5 - Lucy 6 - Chloe 7 - Katie 8 - Emma 9 - Amy 10 - Erin

The top 50 boys' names accounted for 47% of all boys' names registered and the top 50 girls' names accounted for 43% of the registrations.

Duncan Macniven, Registrar General for Scotland, said: "As always, the list of Scotland's favourite baby names is very interesting.

"Around 27,800 boys and 26,600 girls names have been registered in 2009. Almost 7,000 different names were chosen this year and around 1,900 boys and 2,600 girls were given unique (for 2009) names.

"Some boys' names have become less popular, with Kieran, Taylor, Brandon and Declan among those to have dropped down the list.

"Rebecca, Caitlin, Iona, Robyn and Cerys were among those less popular than last year."

Michael Schumacher signs up for F1 return

Schumacher aborted a comeback attempt last season because of a neck injury

By Andrew Benson

Seven-times Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher will come out of retirement to race for Mercedes next year, BBC Sport understands.

The German, who will be 41 on 3 January, has signed a contract and the deal will be announced imminently.

Schumacher will partner compatriot Nico Rosberg in the team that won the drivers' and constructors' titles in 2009 in its former guise as Brawn.

His spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said she could not make any comment.

The German newspaper Bild is reporting that Schumacher signed a one-year deal and it is likely he will have the option to continue beyond 2010 if his returns goes well.

Schumacher will reportedly earn £6.2m after signing up to reunite with Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn, who masterminded all seven of his titles, the first two with Benetton in 1994-5 and the subsequent five with Ferrari from 2000-4.

606: DEBATE I don't like Schumacher but it's a great boost for F1 if he does return KimiRaikkonen1

Mercedes are known to want German rising star Sebastian Vettel in the long term, but the 22-year-old is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2012.

Schumacher was forced to call off a planned temporary comeback as a stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa last season because of a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle accident last February.

But Schumacher is known to have had medical checks recently and it must be assumed he has been given the all clear as he would not want to face the same embarrassment again.

He signed a revised contract as a consultant for Ferrari, but he told Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo that he was "very close" to concluding a deal to race for Mercedes.

Ferrari have had to release him from his contract to enable him to race for Mercedes.

His comeback is the most high profile in F1 since Austrian Niki Lauda came out of a two-year retirement for the 1982 season to race for McLaren.

He's not at the peak of his game, but he's still good enough to win races Eddie Irvine

Lauda, who was 33 at the time, went on to win a third world title in 1984.

Juan Manuel Fangio is Formula 1's oldest world champion, the Argentine won a fifth world championship at the age of 46 before retiring.

Schumacher has been training hard in preparation for a return and, assuming his neck is fully healed, is not expected to have any problems with fitness.

His former team-mate Eddie Irvine told the BBC last week that he expected Schumacher would win races, even though he would not be as powerful a force as before.

"The speed will be there, though he won't be as fast as he was seven years ago," Irvine said.

"He's not at the peak of his game, but he's still good enough to win races as he has such an immense talent. It's still four wheels, a steering wheel and an engine and there's never been anyone better than Michael."

Irvine said he thought Schumacher would be at a disadvantage in wheel-to-wheel racing compared to the younger generation of drivers such as 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton.

"Lewis isn't going to back off, but Michael will have to because he'll be 41," Irvine said.

'Bumper year' for botanical finds

The flower of the Berlinia korupensis, the largest plant in the list of new finds

Giant rainforest trees, tiny fungi and wild coffee plants are among almost 300 species that have been described by UK botanists for the first time in 2009.

The finds were recorded by researchers from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, who carried out surveys involving teams in 100 countries around the world.

The discoveries showed how little of the world's plant species had been documented, the researchers said.

They warned that nearly a third of the finds were in danger of extinction.

"These new discoveries highlight the fact that there is so much of the plant world yet to be discovered and documented," said Stephen Hopper, director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (RBG Kew).

"Without knowing what's out there and where it occurs, we have no scientific basis for effective conservation."

Kew's botanists have described 2009 as a "bumper year" in which they described 292 new species, compared with 200 in an average year.

Exploding pods

The largest of the new finds was a previously unknown giant of Cameroon's rainforest, stretching more than 42m (138ft) into the canopy of the Korup National Park.

The Berlinia korupensis pods explode, spreading seeds over a wide area

The Berlinia korupensis - a member of the pea family - has a one-metre-wide buttressed trunk, and produces white flowers that then give rise to massive seed pods, which can reach 30cm (1ft) in length.

When fully ripened, the pods explode, sending the seeds flying away from the tree, ensuring the best possible chance of survival.

"We found just 17 trees in our survey," explained Xander van der Burgt, who led the team that found the tree.

"Even though the Korup (National Park) is protected, Berlinia korupensis is critically endangered due to human pressures on the park," he added.

At the other end of the scale, the smallest finds were wood-rotting fungi, which were less than 1mm thick and covered their hosts "like a lick of paint".

Coffea ambongensis "bean" (left) next to the commercially grown Arabica coffee (Image: RBG Kew)" border="0" height="170" hspace="0" vspace="0" width="226"> Coffea ambongensis "bean" (left) and the commercial Arabica variety

Seven wild coffee species also feature on the list of new species, most of which were discovered in the mountains of northern Madagascar.

Two of the plants - Coffea ambongensis and Coffea boinensis - have the largest seeds of any coffee species, whose "beans" are more than twice the size of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica), the main species used in commercial coffee production.

"Coffee is the world's second most traded commodity, after oil, with at least 25 million farming families dependent on its production for their livelihoods," explained RBG Kew's coffee expert Aaron Davis.

"Yet, we still have much to learn about its wild relatives."

Dr Davis estimated that almost three-quarters of the world's wild coffee species were threatened, as a result of habitat loss and climate change.

"Conserving the genetic diversity within this genus has implications for the sustainability of our daily cup, particularly as coffee plantations are highly susceptible to climate change," he added.

Professor Hopper said that, around the globe, about 2,000 species were described for the first time each year, adding that it was "vital" that these areas of botanical sciences were adequately funded and supported.

Kew Gardens has published profiles of the new species on its website, and added the information to Google Earth.

BT to complete super-fast broadband network by 2012

The service will initially be rolled out in urban areas

BT's superfast broadband network will be completed in time for the 2012 Olympic Games, the firm has announced.

The £1.5bn fibre-optic network will offer speeds of up to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) for some customers, supporting high-definition video.

However, it will only reach around 40% of homes, mainly in towns and cities.

The firm had originally said the programme would be completed by March 2013 but said the rollout was now "ahead of schedule" .

"Given the progress we're making, four million homes will have access to fibre by the end of next year," said Ian Livingston, CEO of BT.

He said the firm aims to offer 10 million homes access to the fibre network "by the time the games begin" on the 27 July.

The firm currently has five million customers.

But extending the coverage would "inevitably involve support from the public sector", he added.

Customers will be able to access the highest speeds where BT runs fibre-optic cables all the way to their home.

However, the network will still offer speeds of up to 40 Mbps in areas where the fibre cable is run to BT-owned cabinets. In these fibre-to-the-cabinet areas, homes will still be connected to the cabinets by slower copper cables.

Currently, BT's rival Virgin Media offers some homes broadband speeds of up to 50 Mbps, regarded as super-fast broadband.

The UK government has said it wants super-fast broadband available to 90% of the country by the end of 2017 and everyone in the country to have access to broadband speeds of 2 Mbps by 2012.

However, Mr Livingston called for further clarity from the UK government.

"If you look around the world, several governments are pro-actively supporting the roll out of fibre broadband," he said.

"There's still a debate in the UK - which is fine - but we need our politicians to decide how much of a priority fibre broadband is."

The government plans to introduce an annual tax of £6 to fund the rollout of broadband, particularly for rural areas.

Rage Against the Machine beat X Factor winner in charts

Rock band Rage Against The Machine has won the most competitive battle in years for the Christmas number one.

The band's single, Killing In The Name, sold 500,000 downloads beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry's The Climb by 50,000 copies to clinch the top spot.

Their success followed a Facebook campaign designed to prevent another X Factor number one.

One retailer said it was a "truly remarkable outcome - possibly the greatest chart upset ever".

Speaking on the Radio 1 chart show, Zack de la Rocha from Rage said: "We are very, very ecstatic about being number one."

He added it was an "incredible organic grassroots campaign".

'Sterile pop'

"It says more about the spontaneous action taken by young people throughout the UK to topple this very sterile pop monopoly," he said.

McElderry, 18, praised the campaign, adding: "It's been exciting to be part of a much-hyped battle and they definitely deserve congratulations."

Thanking all the fans who bought his single, he said: "This time last year I never thought for one minute that I'd win The X Factor, never mind about having a debut single out, so I'm just delighted to be in the charts.

CHART ANALYSIS Colin Paterson, BBC News entertainment reporter It is simply one of the biggest shocks in chart history. The common belief was that the race for Christmas number one had been destroyed by the X Factor. This year the corporate might of Simon Cowell has been defeated by a husband and wife's Facebook campaign. This chart shock is right up there with Spiller's 'Groovejet' derailing the start of Victoria Beckham's non-Spice Career in 2000 or crooner Engelbert Humperdink ending The Beatles' run of 11 number ones in a row. Two other points - this could become an annual event - the public deciding on a track with which to take on the X Factor winner. Secondly there is still every chance Joe will reach number one next week. The Rage Against Machine campaign was designed for one week only so Joe could get the top spot, saving him the indignity of being the first ever X Factor winner not to hit number one with their debut single.

"It's been such an incredible couple of months and I got the best Christmas gift I could ever have asked for in winning The X Factor."

He later told BBC Radio 1 he did not believe the internet campaign was a personal attack.

He said: "It's more against the show than me and I think if any other person had have won, the same thing would have happened, because the petition was going on before the winner had been announced."

Despite earlier in the week calling the campaign "stupid", X Factor judge Simon Cowell offered his congratulations to the couple behind it, Jon and Tracy Morter.

He said: "I am gutted for Joe because a number one single meant a lot to him but I have to congratulate Jon and Tracy, who started the Facebook campaign.

"I called Jon on Saturday to congratulate the two of them that, win or lose, they turned this into a very exciting race for the Christmas number one.

"I am proud of Joe - he worked really hard this week, but he has a great year ahead of him."

The Los Angeles rock band's hit also set two records: it is the first single to reach the top of the charts on download sales alone and has achieved the biggest download sales total in a first week ever in the UK charts.

McElderry's song was only released digitally after his victory in the X Factor, giving it less time to rack up sales than Rage Against The Machine.

On Friday the band's lead was just 9,000 copies, but sales then soared by 200,000 to secure victory.

RECENT CHRISTMAS NUMBER ONES 2000: Bob the Builder: Can We Fix It 2001: Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman: Somethin' Stupid 2002: Girls Aloud: Sound of the Underground 2003: Michael Andrews feat Gary Jules: Mad World Band Aid 20: Do They Know It's Christmas? 2005: Shayne Ward: That's My Goal 2006: Leona Lewis: A Moment Like This 2007: Leon Jackson: When You Believe 2008: Alexandra Burke: Hallelujah What's all the Rage against? Have Your Say: What does Rage's victory mean for X Factor?

Rage Against The Machine are signed to Epic Records, which is part of Sony BMG, the same label as McElderry.

Mr de la Rocha said the band would perform a free concert in the UK in 2010 to celebrate their chart win.

The past four Christmas number ones have all been by X Factor winners; Alexandra Burke's version of Hallelujah last year was one of the biggest selling festive singles ever.

Guitarist Tom Morello said it had "tapped into the silent majority of the people in the UK who are tired of being spoon-fed one schmaltzy ballad after another".

He added that proceeds from the single would go to homeless charity Shelter tying in with the Morters' Facebook campaign which includes an online link to give to the charity, raising over £70,000 so far.

The last big Christmas battle on a similar scale was between the Spice Girls' Goodbye and South Park character Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls in 1998. The Spice Girls won with 380,000 to their rival's 375,000.

Despite losing out on the single top spot, Cowell kept a hold on the album chart, with Susan Boyle's I Dreamed A Dream remaining at number one for a fourth week.

EDITORS NOTE - After this stupid Facebook campaign, I am cancelling my Facebook account

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	Winamp 5.57 Freeware Popular and extensive audio player 18 December 2009
	Backup4All Lite 4.3 Full Commercial Software, worth $19.95 Quickly backup & restore your files 09 December 2009
	The GIMP 2.6.8 Freeware Comprehensive, popular free image editor 16 December 2009
	Mozilla Thunderbird 3 Freeware A new look with tabs and better search 15 December 2009
	Eraser 6 Freeware Permanently erase important files 15 December 2009
	WinRar 3.91 Freeware Create your own RAR archives 15 December 2009
	Ashampoo WinOptimizer 2010 Advanced Full Commercial Software Full tweaking and optimisation tool, worth £35 14 December 2009