KPMG takes top spot in IT Anthems

KPMG's corporate anthem, called "Our Vision of Global Strategy", has knocked McKinsey & Company from the number one spot in ZDNet UK's IT Anthems chart. But despite KPMG's appearance at number one, the company's jingle about global strategy was not downloaded the most -- top spot in IT Anthems is decided by visitors' votes in an online poll, rather than by downloads. McKinsey & Company's anthem, called simply "McKC", slipped to number two, but still recorded the greatest number of downloads. With 26,000-plus downloads, its popularity would have been enough, if translated into record sales, to propel it into the top ten of the UK charts. According to average figures quoted by the Official UK Charts Company, by comparison, it takes an average of 22,000 sales for a single to reach the number ten position in the official UK pop charts. The result does not imply any quality judgement, but it does indicate popularity. IT Anthems are a form of industrial folklore -- while the enjoyment is partly ironic, it is nonetheless real. Lower down the charts this week are several new releases. * The popular IBM song "Ever Onward" has been given a makeover as a Flash animation that has to be seen to be believed. * Honeywell has a song, "Our vision is one Honeywell", which boasts an unheard of level of clichés-per-minute, and is a hot tip to oust KPMG in future weeks. * There are also two hymns to the storage industry, from YottaYotta, based on Mambo Number Five and the Beach Boys' Little Deuce Coupe. * And consultants Ernst and Young's have a song whose title, "We're gonna be number one", has aroused suspicion that it was recorded specially for IT Anthems.

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