‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ climbs music charts

THE DEATH of Margaret Thatcher has sparked a surge in downloads of the song ‘Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead’ from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

The song topped online retailer Amazon’s most downloaded chart on Wednesday, helped in part by a social media campaign to use the track as a way of ‘celebrating’ the death of the former British Prime Minister.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Official Charts Company said: “The surge in sales follows a campaign to get the track to Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart following the death of Margaret Thatcher on Monday.”

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She added that the song had sold nearly 11,000 copies by Tuesday night - around 5,000 short of the figure needed to in the top three.

A version of the song sung by the late singer Ella Fitzgerald entered Amazon’s download chart at number five.

Amazon reviewers took to the site to encourage other shoppers to show their disapproval of Thatcher, who died on Monday after suffering a stroke.

One user wrote: “For those genuine witches, who purposely destroy the lives of others for purely ideological reasons and with not one shred of apology or a single tear, this is the perfect funeral-day track.”

By Wednesday, a Facebook group urging people to download the track to help it top the charts had amassed over 5,000 members.