Released on 12 September 1980, "Black Sea" sold moderately, with 7 weeks spent on the UK album charts and a number 16 peak. In the US, the album spent 24 weeks on the "Billboard 200" album charts and reached its peak position of number 41 in February 1981. Virgin's marketing department found "Black Sea" difficult to promote, and so publicity campaigns were split between "serious" national media, the independent music press, and schoolgirl-oriented magazines. Partridge remembered that the label "wanted us to be the power-pop teen dream thing."