Simon Cowell has again blasted the campaign to make Rage Against The Machine number one for Christmas, comparing its organisers to Ebenezer Scrooge.

Music fans have launched an attempt to end The X Factor's dominance over the festive charts by calling for a mass download of the US band's 1992 single 'Killing In The Name'.

If the campaigners are successful, 18-year-old Joe McElderry will be the first X Factor winner in five years to miss out on having the Christmas chart-topper.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Cowell insisted: "We've got 500,000 singles going out on Wednesday and Joe will be number one.

"Why not let the kid have his moment? It's all very Scrooge. It's miserable to put down young talent. We should celebrate it."

Initial sales figures released earlier today indicated that Rage Against The Machine had a narrow lead over McElderry.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io