It was originally released on 17 December 2015, and an official remix version of "Cheap Thrills" featuring Jamaican singer Sean Paul was made available for digital download on 11 February 2016 as the album's second single.

It reached the top position in many countries, including Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain; as well as the top-10 in Australia, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number two on its UK Singles Chart.

At the APRA Music Awards of 2018, "Cheap Thrills" won Most Played Australian Work Overseas for its songwriters, Sia and Kurstin.

[14] In Australia, some stations, notably in the Nova Entertainment sphere, but especially prominent in the Sydney and Central Coast regions, adjust the same lyric to "turn the shower on" instead.

[16] Nick Levine of NME praised the track's production "and there's no denying this is another superior slab of on-trend ear candy from one of pop's finest songwriters.

[20] The song became the best selling and highest certified single in Italy for a female artist, reaching 10× platinum status, with sales of over 500,000 copies.

Sia has performed "Cheap Thrills" on various television shows and concerts, with a group of dancers usually led by either Maddie Ziegler or Stephanie Mincone dancing to the same choreography as in the music video, including The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January 2016,[26] American Idol in March,[27] Coachella in April,[28] and YouTube's Brandcast event in New York City[29] as well as the season finale of The Voice, both in May.

In the video, a faceless couple wearing wigs (two dancers Minn Vo and Stefanie Klausmann), which have become part of Sia's signature look, win a dance contest on a retro 1960s black-and-white TV show reminiscent of American Bandstand or The Buddy Deane Show, using visual effects to recreate the look of early 1960s television cameras.

[32] Sia and Daniel Askill directed a performance video featuring Maddie Ziegler dancing with two male dancers (Wyatt Rocker and Nick Lanzisera) to Ryan Heffington's choreography, which was released on 21 March 2016.

A trio of dancers wear nude-coloured leotards, with black and blonde hairstyles and gloves in the half-and-half style used in most of Sia's videos for This Is Acting.

They dance on a plain stage, with Sia at a rear corner in the background singing into a microphone while wearing a similar bobbed two-toned wig, a large hairbow and a white dress.