Although it was an unfinished demo, "Earth Angel" began to see immediate success. Williams carried a rough acetate dub with him to Dolphin's of Hollywood All Night Record Shop, a local record store, to gauge shop owner John Dolphin's opinion. Dolphin broadcast a late-night rhythm and blues broadcast from his store, and KGFJ disc jockey Dick Hugg was sitting in. Hugg played both sides of the single, and by the next morning, requests began coming in for the song. As a result, Williams abandoned an idea to overdub additional instrumentation and began immediate manufacturing of the 7" single to issue it as soon as possible. Still convinced "Hey Señorita" would be the hit, it was pressed to the A-side; disc jockeys soon began flipping the record in favor of "Earth Angel". The demand for "Earth Angel" nearly bankrupted Dootone; producer Walter Williams ran out of label paper, leading the single to be pressed on multiple colored labels. It made its first appearance in "Billboard" as a territorial hit for Los Angeles, becoming the second best-selling R&B single in Los Angeles for the second week of October 1954. It climbed to number one for the city by November 13, after which it began to grow in popularity in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Nashville.