Upon the release of the album "Reckless" in November 1984, "Summer of '69" received some airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations but was mostly overshadowed by the tracks "Run to You" and "It's Only Love", only managing to reach number 40 on "Billboard"'s Top Rock Tracks chart. After it was released as a single in June 1985, "Summer of '69" climbed to number 5 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and helped push "Reckless" to the number one position on the "Billboard" 200 album chart in August 1985. Like the previous single released from "Reckless", "Heaven", "Summer of '69" was a commercial success worldwide. On the UK Singles Chart, "Summer of '69" debuted at number fifty-nine, and managed to climb up the chart, and two weeks later reached its peak position of 42, on August 24, 1985. The single remained on the country's chart for four consecutive weeks from August to September 1985, before falling out of the top 100. The track debuted at number twenty-two on September 22, and peaked at number seven in the fifth week on the New Zealand Singles Chart. The song debuted at 95 on the Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart on June 29, 1985, jumping to fifty in its second week and peaking at eleven on September 14, 1985, after spending seven weeks on the chart.