''No Angel'' is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Dido. Originally released on 1 June 1999 in the United States, the album found a mass audience when it was released worldwide in February 2001. By 2003, the album had sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, and was the second best-selling album of the 2000s in the United Kingdom, behind

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount; 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. A former reconnaissance officer in the Life Guards regiment of the British Army, he served under NATO during the 1999 Kosovo War. After ...

's ''

Back to Bedlam ''Back to Bedlam'' is the debut studio album by the English singer-songwriter James Blunt, released on 11 October 2004 through Atlantic Records. It is named after the famous psychiatric institution of Bethlem Royal Hospital, which is commonly k ...

''. As of 2015 ''No Angel'' is the 27th best-selling album in UK chart history. In 2019 it was listed the ninth best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. It was also among ten albums nominated for the best British album of the previous 30 years by the

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in 2010, ultimately losing to ''

(What's the Story) Morning Glory? ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'' is the second studio album by English rock band Oasis. Released on 2 October 1995 by Creation Records, it was produced by Owen Morris and the group's guitarist and main songwriter Noel Gallagher. The str ...

'' by

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

Background

Recording for the album began when Dido officially signed a record deal with

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertain ...

. As well as recording ten new tracks, Dido took two previously recorded tracks from her demo collection, '' Odds & Ends'', and used them for the album, with " Take My Hand" appearing in its original form, and "Sweet Eyed Baby" being remixed to create "Don't Think of Me". During recording for the album, a deal to release the album in the US was finalised, however, a deal to secure European sales of the album was not completed, thus meaning that when the album was released in June 1999, it was released exclusively in America. Prior to the album's release, a promotional sampler titled ''The Highbury Fields EP'' was issued to radio stations, featuring four tracks from the album, and "Worthless", another track from the demo collection ''Odds & Ends''.

Singles

The album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, " Here with Me", was initially released in the US on 17 May 1999, and it subsequently became the theme song for the popular American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

'' Roswell''. The song reached No. 21 on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

chart. It became globally available in February 2001, peaking at No. 4 in the UK. In an attempt to boost album sales, a second single, " Don't Think of Me", was released on 7 February 2000, but it did not fare as well as expected, only peaking at No. 35 on the

chart in the US, spending only seven weeks on the chart. "

Thank You "''Thank you''" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of ...

" was released as the album's third single on 18 September 2000. It became the biggest hit of ''No Angel'', reaching No. 3 in both the US and the UK, where it was certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

for selling over 200,000 copies in the country. It also topped several ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' charts such as Adult Top 40,

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

and

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

. The album's third European single, "

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

", was released on 18 June 2001 in the US and on 10 September 2001 in the UK, reaching the top 20 in the latter country. It spent fifteen weeks on the Adult Top 40 chart peaking at No. 16, while it became a top-10 hit on the dance charts in America. A fourth single, "

All You Want "All You Want" is a song by English singer-songwriter Dido, released as the fourth and final single from her debut album, ''No Angel'' (1999). The single was released as an exclusive 3-inch mini-disc in the UK, making it ineligible to chart. The t ...

", was released on 10 December 2001, but it was ineligible to chart due to only being released as a 3-inch mini-single in the UK. Some of the album tracks were later licensed for use in television programmes, with "My Life" appearing in an episode of the drama series ''Angel Eyes'', as well as alongside "My Life", "Honestly OK" and "Thank You" in several episodes of the Warner Bros. show ''

Popular Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...

''. "My Lover's Gone" was featured on the soundtrack of Brazilian telenovela "

O Clone O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

" and became a smash radio hit in the country.

Critical reception

'' Q'' listed ''No Angel'' as one of the best 50 albums of 2001. The album won the Best British album accolade on 2002 Brit Awards.

Commercial performance

''No Angel'' was first released in North America on 1 June 1999 and entered the

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

chart at number fifty a month and a half later. Twelve months after its original release, it hit number one on the chart and simultaneously entered the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

at No. 144, which was attributed to extensive touring by Dido in clubs and small venues across the country and radio exposure in

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

stations. However, ''No Angel'' continued to climb up the chart afterwards largely due to the sampling of "Thank You" on hit single " Stan" by American rapper

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...

. By January 2001, the album finally cracked the top ten of the Billboard 200 moving 17–9. Six weeks later, it reached its peak position of number-four on its 40th week on the chart, while "Thank You" was already a top twenty hit on the

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until 1991) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States acro ...

. ''No Angel'' spent 69 weeks on the Billboard 200 and became the 17th best-selling album of 2001 in the country. By February 2002 US sales for the album stood at a total of 2,814,000 copies sold. According to

Nielsen Soundscan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

, the album has sold over 4.2 million units in the US and has been certified quadruple platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

. Meanwhile, in Canada, ''No Angel'' also reached number-four on the

albums chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

and sold over 400,000 copies in the country, which resulted in a quadruple platinum certification by the

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It ...

. Additionally, the Association of Producers of Phonograms and Videograms certified the album platinum for selling over 150,000 units in Mexico. Following the success of "Stan" in Australia and the UK, where it hit number one, ''No Angel'' was finally distributed in other markets outside North America in late 2000. The album made its debut on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

in October of the same year at number fifty, and entered the top ten for the first time on its 14th week by climbing 11–5. By early February 2001, ''No Angel'' finally reached the top of the chart and remained there for six consecutive weeks. In early October, it returned to number-one for a seventh and final week at the top. Notably, the album re-entered the top ten on its 126th week on the chart at the end of the busy Christmas shopping period of 2003 due to the massive success of her second studio album ''

Life for Rent ''Life for Rent'' is the second studio album by English singer Dido, released by Arista Records on 29 September 2003. The album was produced by her brother Rollo Armstrong and American songwriter Rick Nowels. Work on the album began in mid-20 ...

''. ''No Angel'' became the top-selling album of 2001 and the 27th highest-selling of 2002. Moreover, it has been recognised as the 26th best-selling album of all time in the country, with sales that exceed 3,088,700 copies, resulting in a tenfold platinum certification by the

. Meanwhile, in neighbouring Ireland, the album was listed as the second highest-selling of 2001 by the

Irish Recorded Music Association The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) is a non-profit association set up in 1999 to promote certain interests of the music industry in Ireland. It is particularly active in addressing copyright issues, and it compiles the official music ...

, behind ''

Swing When You're Winning ''Swing When You're Winning'' is a swing cover album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, and his fourth studio album overall. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2001 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart. ...

'' by

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

. ''No Angel'' also experienced success in Germany, selling 750,000 units, which resulted in a triple gold certification by the

Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie (English: Federal Music Industry Association), or simply BVMI, represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 280 labels and music industry related enterprises, which ...

. Furthermore, ''No Angel'' entered the

Australian albums chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

at number twenty-one and quickly rose to the top on its sixth week, dethroning ''

The Marshall Mathers LP ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem, released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album was produced mostly by Dr. Dre and Eminem, along with The 45 King, the Bass ...

'' by Eminem. It remained there for eight consecutive weeks. ''No Angel'' finished 2001 as the second highest-selling album of the year, behind the ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and co ...

'' soundtrack, and was also amongst the forty best-selling records of the following year. The album received a sextuple platinum certification by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...

, denoting shipments of over 420,000 units in the country. In New Zealand, ''No Angel'' topped the albums chart for nine non-consecutive weeks and spent fifty-nine weeks inside the top forty. By the spring of 2002, the album had sold 75,000 copies and was certified five times platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of New Zealand Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded ...

. In 2001 the album was the number 1 best-selling album, selling 8.6 million copies worldwide.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are des ...

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. * Dido – lead vocals (all tracks), production (tracks 1, 2, 4–12), keyboards (tracks 7, 9),

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

(track 6) *

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

– production (tracks 6–12), programming (tracks 6, 8–10, 12) *

Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is an American songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and arranger. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

(tracks 2, 5) * Mark Bates – piano (tracks 3, 6, 9, 11), keyboards (tracks 6, 11, 12),

wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

and

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(track 11) * Phill Brown – mixing (tracks 6–11), recording (tracks 9, 10) * Goetz – recording (tracks 6–8, 11, 12), mixing (tracks 4, 12), additional recording (track 9) * Pauline Taylor – additional background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 12), background vocals (tracks 8, 11), additional arrangement (track 8), background vocal arrangement (track 11) *

Ash Howes Biffco is a music production and songwriting team from Brighton, England, formed by Richard "Biff" Stannard, Julian Gallagher, Ash Howes. The group have worked with a number of high-profile artists, including Kylie Minogue, One Direction, Atomi ...

– recording and mixing (tracks 1, 2, 5) *

John Themis John Themis is an Australian-born musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for his long-term work with Boy George and Culture Club, collaborating on many of their songs and albums since the 1990s. He also worked on ''Taboo'', a music ...

– electric guitar and percussion (tracks 1, 2, 5) * Paulie Herman – guitar (tracks 3, 6, 8, 9), harmonica (track 9) *

Gavyn Wright Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions (including Elton John, Simply Red, Bush, Mecano, Oasis ...

– strings (tracks 1, 3, 11, 12) *

Wil Malone Wil Malone (born 1952, in Hornsey, North London) is a British music producer and arranger, who has worked with artists including Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Todd Rundgren, The Verve, Massive Attack, Depeche Mode and Italian rocker Gianna Nannini ...

– string arrangement small (tracks 1, 3, 11, 12) * Duncan Bridgeman – production, keyboards, programming and recording (track 4) *

Aubrey Nunn Aubrey Nunn (born 19 November 1966, Bloomsbury, North London, England) is an English bass guitarist, songwriter, producer, and educator. He is best known as a long-serving former member of the British band Faithless. He has the accolade of havi ...

– bass guitar (tracks 4, 8, 10, 12) * Matty Benbrook – live drums (tracks 8, 9, 11), programming (track 7) * James Sanger – programming (tracks 1, 2, 5) * Paul Statham – keyboards (tracks 1, 10), piano (track 10) * Richie Stevens – additional live drums (tracks 2, 5) additional percussion (track 5) * Dave Randall – guitar (tracks 4, 10, 12) * Mal Hyde Smith – percussion (tracks 6, 9, 12) * Peter Vittese – keyboards and additional programming (track 1) * Randy Wine –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

(tracks 2, 5) * Rusty Anderson – electric guitar (tracks 2, 5) * John Pierce – bass (tracks 2, 5) *

Youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

– production and bass (track 3) *

Geoff Dugmore Geoff Dugmore (born 12 April 1960) is a Scottish drummer, musical director and producer. He was a member of the bands The Europeans, and Wildlife. Career Educated at Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow, Scotland, Dugmore started his musical care ...

– live drums and percussion (track 3) * Hugo Nicolson – recording and mixing (track 3) * Nick "Manasseh" Raphael – dub effects and additional programming (track 7) * Bruce Aisher – additional keyboards (track 7), keyboards (track 8) * Sudha Kheterpal – percussion (tracks 8, 10) * Rachael Brown – background vocals (tracks 8, 11) *

Sister Bliss Ayalah Deborah Bentovim (born 30 December 1970), better known by her stage name Sister Bliss, is a British keyboardist, record producer, DJ and songwriter. In the studio, she is best known for her work with Rollo Armstrong as one half of the pr ...

– production and keyboards (track 12) * Jony Rockstar – programming (track 3) *

Jamie Catto James David Catto (born 14 August 1968 in London, England) is a British musician, video director, photographer, and script editor. He was a founding member of Faithless, before leaving in 1999 to form 1 Giant Leap. Career Faithless Educated a ...

– production (track 4) * Aquila – background vocals (track 8) * Martin McCorry – electric guitar (track 9) * Tim Vogt – bass (track 9) * Mark Felton – harmonica (track 10) Credits * Tom Coyne – mastering * Sheri G. Lee – art direction * Andrew Southam – photography * Len Irish – photography * Basia Zamorska – styling * Laura de Leon – hair * Heidi Lee – makeup

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

, +Year-end chart performance for ''No Angel'' , - ! scope="row", Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) , 81 , - ! scope="row", UK Albums (OCC) , 135 , - ! scope="row", US ''Billboard'' 200 , 175 , - , - !scope="row", Argentine Albums (CAPIF) , style="text-align:center;", 16 , - !scope="row", Australian Albums (ARIA) , style="text-align:center;", 2 , - !scope="row", Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) , style="text-align:center;", 9 , - !scope="row", Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , style="text-align:center;", 11 , - !scope="row", Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 5 , - !scope="row", Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) , style="text-align:center;", 13 , - !scope="row", Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) , 16 , - !scope="row", Danish Albums (Hitlisten) , style="text-align:center;", 5 , - !scope="row", Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) , style="text-align:center;", 12 , - !scope="row", European Albums (''Music & Media'') , 1 , - , - !scope="row", French Albums (SNEP) , style="text-align:center;", 3 , - !scope="row", German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) , style="text-align:center;", 2 , - !scope="row", Irish Albums (IRMA) , style="text-align:center;", 2 , - !scope="row", Italian Albums (FIMI) , style="text-align:center;", 7 , - !scope="row", New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) , style="text-align:center;", 2 , - !scope="row", Spanish Albums (AFYVE) , 38 , - ! scope="row", Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) , 15 , - ! scope="row", Swedish Albums & Compilations (Sverigetopplistan) , 21 , - ! scope="row", Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) , 4 , - ! scope="row", UK Albums ( OCC) , style="text-align:center;", 1 , - ! scope="row", US ''Billboard'' 200 , 17 , - ! scope="row", Worldwide Albums (IFPI) , style="text-align:center;", 2 , - , - ! scope="row", Australian Albums (ARIA) , 43 , - !scope="row", Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 70 , - !scope="row", Belgian Alternative Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 32 , - !scope="row", Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) , 57 , - !scope="row", Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) , 75 , - ! scope="row", European Albums (''Music & Media'') , 24 , - !scope="row", French Albums (SNEP) , 38 , - ! scope="row", UK Albums (OCC) , style="text-align:center;", 27 , - , - !scope="row", Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 98 , - ! scope="row", UK Albums (OCC) , 89 , - , - !scope="row", Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 10 , - !scope="row", Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) , 11 , - !scope="row", UK Albums (OCC) , 98 , - , - !scope="row", Belgian Midprice Albums (Ultratop Flanders) , 44

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Dido
— official website. {{Authority control Dido (singer) albums 1999 debut albums Cheeky Records albums Albums produced by Pascal Gabriel Albums produced by Rick Nowels Albums produced by Rollo Armstrong Brit Award for British Album of the Year Dream pop albums by English artists Folktronica albums