Blue Monday by New Order was released as a 12-inch single on March 7, 1983, with The Beach (an instrumental reworking of Blue Monday) as the B side. The song did not originally appear on the band’s second album, Power, Corruption & Lies, released in May 1983. The original 12-inch version would later appear on New Order’s Substance, a compilation album released in 1987.

Blue Monday is the biggest-selling 12-inch single of all time. It reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart and No. 9 on the UK Singles chart.

The artwork for the original 12-inch release was die-cut with a silver inner sleeve, designed to resemble a floppy disk. It does not display the band’s name nor the song title; the only text on the sleeve is “FAC SEVENTY THREE” on the spine.