Controversy flairs over song boosted by Thatcher's death

LONDON (CNN) -- The BBC said Friday it will play a short clip of the Wizard of Oz song "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" on its pop chart show on Sunday -- not the whole song -- after sales of the tune skyrocketed in the wake of the death of Margaret Thatcher.

A Facebook campaign is encouraging people to buy the track to celebrate the former prime minister's death on Monday.

BBC Radio 1 controller Ben Cooper called the decision to play an excerpt on the Official Chart Show "a difficult compromise," the BBC reported.

Thatcher remains a highly polarizing figure in British politics.

Many Britons blame her for creating soaring unemployment, when she reduced or eliminated many government subsidies to businesses and took on unions. Her battle with striking coal miners won her few friends in mining communities in northern England and Wales.