The album was reissued in 2001 with two additional tracks, namely "Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne and "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac.

Reflecting on compiling the soundtrack, the film's music producer Joel Sill stated "We wanted to have very recognizable material that would pinpoint time periods, yet we didn't want to interfere with what was happening cinematically."

According to Sill, director Robert Zemeckis requested all the music in the film to be from American artists because he thought that was the only kind of music that the main character, the titular Forrest Gump, would buy, further stating "All the material in there is American.

"[3] The soundtrack jumped from number 34 to 7 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on July 30, 1994.

It reached its peak position of number 2 on the chart on August 13, 1994, staying there for seven weeks until September 17, 1994, when it was displaced by the soundtrack of The Lion King.