Angel (Shaggy song)

"Angel" is a song by Jamaican reggae artist Shaggy featuring additional vocals from Barbadian singer Rayvon. Sampling the 1973 song "The Joker" by American rock band Steve Miller Band and interpolating the 1967 song "Angel of the Morning" written by Chip Taylor, it was released to radio on 9 January 2001 as the follow-up to Shaggy's international number-one hit, "It Wasn't Me". "Angel" also proved to be successful, reaching number one in 12 countries, including Australia, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

"Angel"
Single by Shaggy featuring Rayvon
from the album Hot Shot
B-side	"Chica Bonita"
Released	9 January 2001 (2001-01-09)
Studio	Big Yard (Jamaica) Ranch (Valley Stream, New York) HC&F (Freeport, New York)
Length	3:55 (album version) 3:31 (radio edit)
Label	MCA
Songwriter(s)	Steve Miller Ahmet Ertegun Eddie Curtis Chip Taylor
Producer(s)	Shaun "Sting" Pizzonia
Shaggy singles chronology
"It Wasn't Me" (2000) "Angel" (2001) "Luv Me, Luv Me" (2001)
Rayvon singles chronology
"In the Summertime" (1995) "Angel" (2000) "2-Way" (2002)
Music video
"Angel" on YouTube

Composition

The song prominently samples the bassline from the 1973 song "The Joker" by American rock band Steve Miller Band.^[1] The chorus interpolates the melody of the 1967 song "Angel of the Morning", written and composed by American songwriter Chip Taylor, that has been recorded numerous times and has been a hit single for various artists, including American singers Merrilee Rush and Juice Newton.^[1]

Commercial reception

The song debuted at number 81 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending 30 December 2000.^[2] The song first entered the top 40 at number 39 on the week ending 20 January 2001.^[3] It peaked at number one on the chart week of 31 March 2001, for one week.^[4] According to Billboard writer Silvio Pietroluongo, "Angel" beat Crazy Town's "Butterfly" to number one by a margin of two points, which was the smallest gap between two singles since the magazine began having its charts stored digitally in 1985.^[5] It was also the second song to reach number one without a retail release, after Aaliyah's "Try Again" (2000), although physical formats would later be issued in the United States on 24 April 2001.^[5][6] "Angel" was the 17th-most-successful song of 2001 in the US and has sold 1,494,000 digital copies in the US as of April 2016.^[7][8]

Internationally, the song reached number one in Australia, Austria, Flanders, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, topping the Eurochart Hot 100 as well.^{[9][10][11][12][13]} In Australia, it peaked atop the ARIA Singles Chart for eight weeks, finishing fourth on the Australian year-end chart for 2001.^[9][14] It was also an enduring hit in Ireland, where it is the 20th-highest-selling single of all time.^[15]

Music video

The music video was directed by Cameron Casey. It features Shaggy and Rayvon relaxing in a private plane and driving around in luxury cars.

Track listings

US maxi-CD and Japanese CD single[16][17] "Angel" (album version) "Angel" (remix) "Angel" (instrumental) "Angel" (live) US 7-inch single[18] A. "Angel" – 3:55 B. "Chica Bonita" – 4:02 US 12-inch single[19] A1. "Angel" (album version) – 3:55 B1. "Angel" (Dance Hall remix) – 3:51 B2. "Angel" (Dance Hall remix instrumental) – 3:51 Australian and European maxi-CD single[9][20] "Angel" (radio edit) — 3:31 "Angel" (Seabreeze mix) — 3:46 "It Wasn't Me" (Crash & Burn remix featuring Rikrok) — 5:37 "Angel" (enhanced video)

European CD single[21] "Angel" (radio edit) — 3:31 "Angel" (Seabreeze mix) — 3:46 UK CD single[22] "Angel" (radio edit) "Angel" (Crash & Burn remix) "Angel" (Seabreeze mix) "Angel" (video) UK 12-inch single[23] A1. "Angel" (Crash & Burn remix) AA1. "Angel" (Seabreeze mix) AA2. "Angel" (radio edit) UK cassette single[24] "Angel" (radio edit) "Angel" (Crash & Burn remix) "Angel" (Seabreeze mix)

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the Hot Shot album booklet.^[25]

Studios

• Recorded at Big Yard Studios (Jamaica), Ranch Recording Studios (Valley Stream, New York), and HC&F Studio (Freeport, New York)
• Mixed at Ranch Recording Studios (Valley Stream, New York)
• Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Personnel

• Steve Miller – writing
• Ahmet Ertegun – writing
• Eddie Curtis – writing
• Chip Taylor – writing
• Gordon Dukes – background vocals
• Robert Zapata – guitar
• Phillip George Henry – guitar
• Carlos Sanchez – keyboard
• Shaun "Sting" Pizzonia – drums, production, recording, mixing
• Chris Gehringer – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2001) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[9] 1 Australian Urban (ARIA)[26] 1 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[27] 1 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[28] 1 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[29] 2 Canada (Nielsen SoundScan)[30] 28 Canada CHR (Nielsen BDS)[31] 1 Denmark (Tracklisten)[32] 2 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[13] 1 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[33] 10 France (SNEP)[34] 8 Germany (GfK)[35] 1 Hungary (Mahasz)[36] 2 Ireland (IRMA)[10] 1 Italy (FIMI)[37] 50 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[38] 1 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[39] 1 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[40] 4 Norway (VG-lista)[41] 1 Poland (Music & Media)[42] 2 Portugal (AFP)[11] 1 Romania (Romanian Top 100)[43] 25 Scotland (OCC)[44] 1 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[45] 1 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[46] 1 UK Singles (OCC)[12] 1 UK Hip Hop/R&B (OCC)[47] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[48] 1 US Adult Pop Airplay (Billboard)[49] 33 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[50] 46 US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[51] 5 US Pop Airplay (Billboard)[52] 1 US Rhythmic (Billboard)[53] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2001) Position Australia (ARIA)[14] 4 Australian Urban (ARIA)[54] 2 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[55] 5 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[56] 5 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[57] 27 Canada Radio (Nielsen BDS)[58] 15 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[59] 9 France (SNEP)[60] 44 Germany (Official German Charts)[61] 9 Ireland (IRMA)[62] 3 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[63] 9 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[64] 4 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[65] 34 Romania (Romanian Top 100)[43] 80 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[66] 5 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[67] 4 UK Singles (OCC)[68] 8 US Billboard Hot 100[7] 17 US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[69] 3 US Rhythmic Top 40 (Billboard)[70] 7 Decade-end charts Chart (2000–2009) Position Australia (ARIA)[71] 64 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[72] 23 All-time charts Chart Position Ireland (IRMA)[15] 20

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[73]	3× Platinum	210,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[74]	Platinum	40,000*
Belgium (BEA)[75]	Platinum	50,000*
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[76]	Platinum	8,000^
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[77] reissue	Gold	45,000‡
France (SNEP)[78]	Gold	250,000*
Germany (BVMI)[79]	Gold	250,000‡
Netherlands (NVPI)[80]	Platinum	60,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[81]	Platinum
Sweden (GLF)[82]	2× Platinum	60,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[83]	Platinum	40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[84] 2001 release	Gold	620,000[85]
United Kingdom (BPI)[86] 2004 release	Platinum	600,000‡
United States	—	1,494,000[8]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United States	9 January 2001	Rhythmic contemporary radio	MCA	[87]
	30 January 2001	Contemporary hit radio		[88]
	24 April 2001	Maxi-CD		[6]
Japan	28 April 2001	CD	Universal Music Japan	[89]
Australia	28 May 2001		MCA	[90]
United Kingdom		12-inch vinyl CD cassette		[91]

Later versions

• German singer Max Raabe and Palast Orchester covered the song in a big band style, for his 2001 album, Super Hits 2.
• In 2001, the parody song "You Ripped Off Angel (of the Morning)" was released by Adam Posegate and received airplay on the Dr. Demento Show.
• R&B artist Bei Maejor did a version of this song sampling the chorus and the beat. It appeared on his mixtape Upsideown2.
• For the 20th anniversary re-recording of Hot Shot, Rayvon's part is performed by Sting instead.^[92][93]

See also

• Jamaica portal
• Music portal

• List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2001
• List of best-selling singles and albums of 2001 in Ireland
• List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 2000s

References

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