Stick Figure's viral hit 'Angels Above Me' tops charts mostly through unauthorized AI-generated remixes the band receives no royalties from

The California-based reggae band Stick Figure's six-year-old song 'Angels Above Me' hit number one on iTunes sales charts in six different countries including the United Kingdom, Austria, and Canada. However, the band and its label discovered that most of the plays and attention came from unauthorized robotic remixes suspected to be generated with AI tools—one remix accumulated over 1.8 million plays on YouTube in five days, and Woodruff reports 'four different versions are going viral.'

According to the French streaming service Deezer, the amount of AI songs it detects daily has jumped from 18 percent in 2025 to 44 percent in 2026, or over 2 million tracks per month. It estimates that 85 percent of these tracks are fraudulent—content created specifically to siphon royalties—and companies now offer AI song remix tools that make it simple to generate unauthorized versions at scale.

Stick Figure's label has been sending copyright takedown notices and contacting streamers and individual remix account owners. Spotify has removed all requested tracks and the viral YouTube video was taken down, but others remain. Adam Gross, president of the band's label Ineffable Records, describes the effort as 'essentially a game of whack-a-mole.' Spotify has announced an 'artist protection feature' to help prevent AI-generated music from being falsely attributed to real artists, and removed over 75 million 'spammy tracks' in September.