Estimated 5 million tune in to hear Rage Against the Machine top chart

An estimated 5 million listeners tuned in to the top 40 yesterday as the battle for the Christmas number one between Rage Against the Machine and The X Factor winner Joe McElderry breathed new life into the Sunday afternoon chart rundown.

Veteran DJ and chart expert Paul Gambaccini described the head-to-head – which was won by the US band after an internet campaign to stop McElderry and Simon Cowell's record label Syco capturing the top spot – as one of the great chart battles of all time.

"Not only was it the meeting of two incredible forces – Simon Cowell versus Facebook, physical versus digital sales – it was a story you could follow day by day," said Gambaccini.

"I rarely listen to the chart show these days but I did for the last half hour yesterday. They built up the suspense and milked it for all it was worth."

Mark Goodier, who presented the top 40 on BBC Radio 1 for a decade until 2002, said the battle had captured people's imagination because they could make a difference to the outcome.

"The music business is very good at delivering exactly what the very powerful chairmen of the music companies want, but now and again something different happens," said Goodier.

"The great democracy of the internet means you can compete against The X Factor and all of its marketing dollars and make a difference. It could be a sign of similar things to come."

Unlike television viewing figures, which are available the following day, radio audience figures are reported on a three-monthly basis, and rarely for individual shows.

But Goodier estimated that the combined audience for the Radio 1 chart show – yesterday hosted by Scott Mills – and its commercial radio rival, the Big Top 40 , could have topped 5 million.

But there has been no weekly chart show on BBC1 since Top of the Pops was axed in 2006. It returns twice a year for a Christmas and New Year special and there have been calls from the music industry to revive the weekly format, but so far without success.

"Music is still a big part of people's lives and for there not to be a show like Top of the Pops in 2010 seems crazy," said Goodier.

But ITV1's The X Factor now attracts the sort of big name performers – George Michael, Whitney Houston, Sir Paul McCartney – who once would have appeared on Top of the Pops, and has more than five times the viewers than the chart show had when it last aired on BBC1 in 2004, when it switched to BBC2 and was axed two years later.

"That is why Simon Cowell has been so brilliant, having two superstar artists each week performing new material on the Sunday night results show," said Gambaccini. "He has sucked up the highest-rating feature of Top of the Pops and taken it on as his own.

"It shows there was always room for it, just that Top of the Pops was so locked into an antiquated mindset that it couldn't exploit it. You have to take your hat off to Simon. He knows the business inside out. He has usurped Top of the Pops."

Gambacinni, the author of numerous books on chart history and statistics, said McElderry would in all probability still top the chart – just not at Christmas.

"The Facebook campaign was only about stopping Simon Cowell having the Christmas number one. Joe McElderry may still get his number one, but it will be at New Year instead."

He added: "Downloads are making the charts interesting again. I'm very happy to see something like this happen."

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