"Closer" was released on 18 July 1980 by Factory Records, as a vinyl LP. The album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. It also peaked at No. 3 in New Zealand in September 1981. "Closer" was also named "NME" Album of the Year. The album, along with "Unknown Pleasures" and "Still", was remastered and re-released in 2007. As with "Unknown Pleasures" and "Still", the remaster was packaged with a bonus live disc, recorded at the University of London Union.