A number of fundraising singles are jostling for the number one position on the Christmas charts, as DJ and music producer Eddy Temple Morris leads a push to get a single of four minutes and 33 seconds of silence to the top spot for hearing and music charities.

The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) ambassador is fronting the Cage Against the Machine campaign to promote the single which aims to help raise funds for the BTA and four other charities.

The single of silence, is a cover version of famous ‘4’33’ by John Cage.

The silent single will go head-to-head with another fundraising number one hopeful, the X-Factor cast’s regular Christmas offering in aid of Help for Heroes. Ex-Slipknot band member Corey Taylor is also aiming for the number one spot with a single for the Teenage Cancer Trust called ‘X-m@$’.

Morris, who has noise-induced tinnitus, said: “The idea behind this track is that, anyone with tinnitus who listens to it will just hear their own ringing or buzzing sound and we want people to listen and appreciate the silence they hear.”

More than 50 British bands and musicians have been asked to support the campaign which hopes to raise money for C.A.L.M, Youth Music, Nordoff Robbins and Sound & Music alongside the BTA. Those involved will collectively record the single on December 6, to be released on Wall of Sound on December 13.

Cage Against the Machine was named with the hope that it will replicate the campaign success of last year’s Christmas number one single, ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage Against the Machine, which managed to deprive the X-Factor juggernaut of the top position.

The single generated massive public support through online promotion and Cage Against the Machine organisers hope this year’s record of ‘silence’ will do the same through social networking sites. The campaign's Facebook page already has 55,000 followers.  

The British Tinnitus Association, which receives no public funding, spent 75 per cent more than its income in the tax year ending March 31 2010.