The song topped the charts in Germany and across Europe and peaked at number four in the United States on August 31, 1991 and number two in the United Kingdom.
With estimated sales of 14 million copies sold worldwide, "Wind of Change" is one of the best-selling singles of all time.
It holds the record for the best-selling single by a German artist.
The band presented a gold record and $70,000 of royalties from the single to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991.
As of February 2019, the video for "Wind of Change" has been viewed more than 665 million times on YouTube.