Album · Depeche Mode
Playing the Angel by Depeche Mode
Playing the Angel is an album by Depeche Mode, released in 2005. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 47 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Precious”, on 35 lists with a best position of #3.
Playing the Angel, Depeche Mode's eleventh studio album, arrived on Mute on 17 October 2005, with Sire and Reprise putting it out in America a day later. By then the band was the trio of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher, and producer Ben Hillier ran the sessions across Santa Barbara Sound Design, Stratosphere Sound and Whitfield Street Studios.
It's a dark, grinding synth-pop record, all corroded, buzzing synths and gloom, with Gahan sounding like a sinner who has made his peace with it. "Precious" led the way, a tender ache over a cold pulse, and "A Pain That I'm Used To", "Suffer Well" and the "John the Revelator" / "Lilian" double shot followed while the Touring the Angel tour kept them on the road. It went to number one in more than 10 countries and made the top 10 in both the UK and the US.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Playing the Angel on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Precious | 35 | #3 | – | 2005–2024 | |
| 2 | Suffer Well | 9 | #43 | – | 2006–2014 | |
| 3 | John the Revelator | 3 | #5 | – | 2005–2024 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.