It is the Pointer Sisters' most successful album to date, peaking at number eight on the Billboard 200 and being certified triple-platinum by the RIAA.

Featuring mostly electro dance tunes, the album gave the Pointer Sisters the biggest success of their recording career, spawning four U.S. top ten hits—"Jump (For My Love)", "Automatic", "Neutron Dance" and a slightly remixed version of their 1982 hit "I'm So Excited".

A mid-tempo number, it was atypical of the album's overall dance sound; the choice of the song as lead single was based on producer Richard Perry's hope that the track would reinstate the Pointer Sisters' presence at R&B radio.

Prior to Break Out, the Pointers had accumulated three earlier top ten hits over a 12-year recording career.

After the Break Out track "Neutron Dance", with Ruth Pointer on lead vocal, was optioned for the soundtrack of the 1984 film Beverly Hills Cop, it became the album's fifth single and fourth consecutive top ten hit, reaching No.

A sixth single, "Baby, Come and Get It", featuring June Pointer on lead, became a minor hit in the spring of 1985 (No.

The 1983 original release and the 1984 re-release were both remastered and issued in a deluxe expanded edition with bonus tracks on CD in 2011 by Big Break Records.