"Cruel Summer" was not an immediate international success when it was released. Although it reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, its international popularity soared after its inclusion in the 1984 feature film "The Karate Kid"; this was a year after the song's original release (the song was released in 1984 in the U.S.). The group did not allow the song to be included on the film's soundtrack album, but it still reached No. 9 in the U.S., their first top ten hit there. When Bananarama were still struggling to make money in their early years, they even performed the song at a beauty contest in Hawaii. The song's biggest chart success was in South Africa, where it peaked at No. 3.