understand for many listeners outside Jamaica. Impact Despite "Israelites" being recorded and released in 1968, the Uni 45 discography shows its cataloguing in 1969. In June 1969 it reached the Top Ten in the United States, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It hit #1 in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Jamaica, South Africa, Canada, Sweden and West Germany. "Israelites" brought a Jamaican beat to the British top 40 for the first time since Dekker's #14 hit "007 (Shanty Town)" in 1967. The disc was released in the UK in March 1969 and was #1 for one week, selling over 250,000 copies. A global million sales was reported in June 1969. Follow-up and reissues Dekker had two more UK Top 10 hits over the next year, "It Miek" and his cover of Jimmy Cliff's song "You Can Get It If You Really Want". Dekker recorded on the Pyramid record label, and when its catalogue was acquired by Cactus Records in 1975, "Israelites" was re-issued in a first-time stereo mix. Just over six years after the original release, the song again reached a Top Ten position in the United Kingdom. In 1980, Dekker released a new recording of the song on UK label Stiff Records, performed in an uptempo Two Tone style. It was taken from an album of similar re-recordings of his old hits, Black & Dekker. Appearance in other media The song has appeared in numerous movies and television programs, including the soundtracks of the 1989 American film Drugstore Cowboy and the 2010 British film Made in Dagenham. On November 3, 2019, "Israelites" was prominently featured in the third episode of HBO's Watchmen. Potentially because of this usage, the song charted again, entering the Billboard Digital Reggae Song Sales Chart at #2. Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Certifications See also UK No.1 Hits of 1969 List of number-one singles from the 1960s (UK) Number-one hits of 1969 (Germany) List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 1969 References Bibliography Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - 1969 singles UK Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Germany Reggae songs Songs written by Leslie Kong Songs written by Desmond Dekker Song recordings produced by Leslie Kong Desmond Dekker songs Madness (band) songs 1968 songs Uni Records singles