Written by frontman Chris Cornell, the song was released in May 1994 by A&M Records as the third single from the band's fourth studio album, Superunknown (1994).

Considered to be the band's signature song, it topped the US Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart, where it spent a total of seven weeks at number one.

The next day I brought it into the real world, assigning a couple of key changes in the verse to make the melodies more interesting.

Guitarist Kim Thayil said that the Leslie model 16 speaker was perfect for the song as "it's very Beatlesque and has a distinctive sound.

Credit is due to Michael Beinhorn and Brendan O'Brien, producer and recording engineer, respectively.

Appearing on The Pods & Sods Network in July 2017, Beinhorn detailed the process of recording Superunknown and shared his reaction to first hearing "Black Hole Sun": "I think for the rest of my entire life, until I draw my last breath, I'll never ever forgot how I felt when they started playing that song.

"[17] When asked about the line, "Times are gone for honest men", Cornell said: It's really difficult for a person to create their own life and their own freedom.

"Black Hole Sun" reached the top 30 in Germany, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and was a top-10 success in France and Ireland.

[21] Greg Prato of AllMusic called the song "one of the few bright spots" of mid-1994, when "the world was still reeling from Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain's suicide the previous April".

"[22] Ann Powers of Blender proclaimed that "Cornell's fixation with the Beatles pays off with the hit single 'Black Hole Sun' ".

[23] In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton wrote, "Easily the most commercial single the US band have released to date".

[24] Jon Pareles of The New York Times said, "The Beatles' techniques—fuzz-toned low chords, legato lead-guitar hooks and lumpy Ringo Starr-style drumming...are linked to Lennon-style melody in 'Black Hole Sun'.

"[25] Roger Morton from NME named it "the best moment" from their album, "a melodramatic downer ballad, whose bleakness is offsett by some curious psychedelic guitar figures.

Considine of Rolling Stone stated, "With its yearning, Lennonesque melody and watery, Harrison-style guitar, 'Black Hole Sun' is a wonderful exercise in Beatleisms; trouble is, it's not a very good song, offering more in the way of mood and atmosphere than melodic direction.

[32] According to Nielsen Music's year-end report for 2019, "Black Hole Sun" was the ninth most-played song of the decade on mainstream rock radio with 125,000 spins.

[35] The surreal and apocalyptic music video for "Black Hole Sun" was directed by British video director Howard Greenhalgh,[36] produced by Megan Hollister for Why Not Films (London, England), shot by Ivan Bartos, and features post-production work by 525 Post Production (Hollywood, California) and Soho 601 Effects (London).

The video follows a suburban neighborhood and its vain inhabitants with grotesquely exaggerated grins, which are eventually swallowed up when the Sun suddenly turns into a black hole, while the band performs the song somewhere in an open field.

[39] After several weeks of airplay on MTV, a second version of the video was substituted containing more elaborate visual effects than the original, including the addition of a computer-generated black hole.

"Black Hole Sun" is on the base set list for the original Rock Band game.