[4] Some of the songs on Cracked Rear View had been previously recorded on these demos and had been honed by the band in live performances for several years.

[6] Gehman's career had been in commercial decline for several years after having had successes in the 1980s, so he pivoted to accepting lower-profile artists, smaller budgets, and being more efficient in the studio to cut costs.

[10][7] In 1996, Gehman reflected on the expectations of the release, stating that no one at Atlantic Records expected it to be a blockbuster, but possibly selling a few hundred thousand copies to establish the band an audience building on their existing South Carolina fan base; as sales took off, the label became more invested and the promotion caused sales to continue to grow.

[21] Sales were strong enough that Hootie & the Blowfish were the best-selling group of 1996 in adult contemporary and pop music as well, between this album and follow-up Fairweather Johnson[22] and in April of that year, Time reported that Cracked Rear View had generated over US$100 million in gross revenues for Atlantic Records (equivalent to $194,271,165 in 2023).

[34] Internationally, Cracked Rear View reached number one in Canada,[35] where it was also the best-selling album of the year[36] at over 800,000 units[26] and also topped charts in New Zealand.

[49] In particular, the 25th anniversary of this album led outlets such as Consequence of Sound to note that there was an audience for mid-tempo rock music with solid songwriting that did not reflect the wake of Nirvana's huge success with Nevermind in 1991 and by artists that had no interest in trying to be cool.

[50] In The Dallas Observer, Preston Jones noted that the critical backlash had long ago subsided and that the band's "material has aged extraordinarily well, fond remembrances aside" including live performances touring for their 2019 release Imperfect Circle.

[2] A revie for retailers by Billboard compared the music to Counting Crows and John Mellencamp and spotlighted "Hold My Hand" as particularly accessible.