"Genius of Love" was Tom Tom Club's second single. Although the album had not been released in North America, over 100,000 copies of the single sold as imports from Island Records's UK, at which point Sire Records made a deal to release the single and the album in North America in late 1981.

Tom Tom Club appeared in the 1984 Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense performing "Genius of Love", although this incarnation of the group did not include Tina Weymouth's sisters Laura and Lani.

The B-side of the "Genius of Love (Long Version)" 12" vinyl has a lesser-known underground hit called "Yella". On some pressings, the song is sometimes credited to Mr. Yellow and, on others, it is credited to Yella.

"Genius of Love" became a commercial success that performed better than Talking Heads' previous singles. Chris Frantz credited the song for convincing David Byrne to continue with Talking Heads. On its release in November 1981, "Genius of Love" became a huge hit in the clubs and on the R&B and dance charts worldwide, soon earning the Tom Tom Club LP a Gold Sales Award in 1982. In the U.S. the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Disco Top 80 chart along with "Wordy Rappinghood," and also reached No. 2 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. It later went on to peak at No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982, becoming the Tom Tom Club's only entry on the Hot 100.

"Genius of Love" reached No. 65 in the UK Singles Chart, while both of the other two singles released from the Tom Tom Club LP achieved Top 30 placings in the UK. A song based on the keyboards-and-bass rhythm in "Genius of Love" was later used in a long-running TV advertising campaign in the UK by the Bird's desserts company between 1985 and 1992, the commercials featuring a spin on the psychedelic animation of the Tom Tom Club video using rudimentary CGI. In 2002, it was also used in a popular TV commercial for Kia Motors.

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