Refugee by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers was released on January 11, 1980, with It’s Rainin’ Again as the B side. It was the second single from the band’s third album Damn the Torpedoes.

The song reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. In Canada, it peaked at No. 2.

According to songfacts.com, the band shot the music video for the song so they didn’t have to appear on The Merv Griffin Show in person. Once MTV launched a year later, the video was played on the channel in heavy rotation.