Rage Against The Machine have released an official statement about achieving the Christmas number one with 'Killing In The Name' yesterday.

Band guitarist Tom Morello thanked the “historic grassroots campaign” and reiterated his point that with unity, people can achieve anything.

It reads:

"Rage Against the Machine are honored to have been drafted by this historic grassroots campaign to make our song "Killing in the Name" the number one song on the UK Christmas Week pop chart. This is a huge victory by and for fans of real music and we extend our heartfelt thanks to every fan and freedom fighter who helped make our anthem of defiance and rebellion the Anarchy Christmas Miracle of 2009. As promised we will play a free concert in the UK in celebration of this incredible upset victory over the heavily favored X-Factor single. We are also pleased that so much money has been raised for homeless charity Shelter and are happy to donate as well to aid this important cause. While there are many lessons that can be drawn from this historic upset, the main one is this: that ordinary people, banding together in solidarity, can change ANYTHING, be it the pop charts or the world."

Rage Against The Machine shifted 502,000 compared to the 450,000 combined physical and digital sales of Joe McElderry's 'The Climb'.

(by Scott Colothan)