American duo Michael Andrews and Gary Jules have become surprise winners in the race to top the Christmas pop charts with a haunting ballad from the cult film “Donnie Darko”.
The little-known Californian musicians took the coveted Christmas top spot on Sunday with “Mad World”, a reworked version of the 1980s song by Tears for Fears.
“It is just amazing,” Andrews told Reuters. “It confirms that people like a moment of peace once in a while”.
“I’m going to go home and celebrate with my girlfriend and then get back into rehearsals.”
A spokesman for the U.S. duo, who have been friends since they were 10, said they had sold 236,000 copies of “Mad World”, compared to 220,000 for rockers The Darkness, who took the number two spot with “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)”. [more @ www.reuters.co.uk]