You can't make assumptions like that unless you asked each person who bought a copy of the single if they like the band or have heard their other stuff.
I agree with Sam here, Rage "supporters" simply cared more to buy the single (possibly even more than once) than Joe's did, resulting in his defeat.
I also must chime in that the comments of "he worked really hard, he deserves it" are crap. I don't think anybody "deserves to be number 1", it's just simply who the public buy more of, and it's not an accurate reflection of the UK's opinion. As this thread proves!