"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.

Composition

The song prominently samples the bassline from the 1973 song "The Joker" by American rock band Steve Miller Band. 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.

Commercial reception

The song debuted at number 81 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending 30 December 2000. The song first entered the top 40 at number 39 on the week ending 20 January 2001. It peaked at number one on the chart week of 31 March 2001, for one week. 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. 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. "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. 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. In Australia, it peaked atop the ARIA Singles Chart for eight weeks, finishing fourth on the Australian year-end chart for 2001. It was also an enduring hit in Ireland, where it is the 20th-highest-selling single of all time.

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 US 7-inch single US 12-inch single Australian and European maxi-CD single European CD single UK CD single UK 12-inch single UK cassette single

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the Hot Shot album booklet. Studios Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

Later versions