"Sweetheart" was only given a commercial release in parts of Europe and Asia, where it garnered minor success and reached the top 40 in most markets. The commercial single was originally scheduled for release in the U.S. before the eligibility rules for the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart were changed to allow album cuts to chart. Following the change of rules for the Hot 100, the rules for the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart were changed as well, to allow airplay-only songs that were bubbling under, or had not yet entered the Hot 100, to chart there. "Sweetheart" began to receive radio and music video airplay in early September 1998, and in the first week of the rule change, when the song's run as a promotional single was ending, it entered the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at 25 and remained on the chart for one week.