At the time, it was a rare achievement for an R&B song to chart within the top echelons of the pop chart. The Penguins were the first West Coast R&B group to dent the pop top ten. In May 1955, Dootsie Williams was presented with a gold record to celebrate the record selling one million copies (it was reported that nearly 200,000 copies of "Earth Angel" were sold in Southern California alone). With the popularity of the song "The Flying Saucer", the single saw revived sales in summer 1956. When the Penguins switched to Mercury Records, the label reissued "Earth Angel" in September 1956 with string accompaniment. The following July, "Billboard" reported that the single was again breaking out in certain markets, remarking, "This wax breaks out every summer." It made another appearance at #101 in late December 1959. Indeed, "Billboard" confirmed the single's enduring popularity in 1960: "The original version of 'Earth Angel,' for example, is still known to be a heavy traffic item in many areas." By 1963, Williams had told "Billboard" the single had passed the 2,000,000 mark, and it was reported to be the top-selling single of Dootone Records (at this period renamed Dooto). The same year, it was reported that thousands of bogus copies of "Earth Angel" were attempted to be sold by an unidentified counterfeiter.