"Stella" was first released in Germany, Switzerland and Austria on vinyl LP on 29 January 1985, and on cassette and CD a week later on 5 February in the same three countries, before being released worldwide in March 1985. In Europe the album was released on the Vertigo or Mercury labels (depending on the country), both labels being imprints of the Phonogram Records group. In the UK Yello's record label Stiff Records was in the process of going into administration, so the album was licensed to Elektra Records. In the US the album came out on both Mercury and Elektra.