Hounds of Love is Bush's best-selling studio album,[6] having been certified double platinum for 600,000 sales in the UK,[7] and by 1998 it had sold 1.1 million copies worldwide.

[9] In the summer of 1983, Bush began laying the groundwork for Hounds of Love at her home recording onto 8-track equipment, using a LinnDrum, Fairlight and piano.

from the beginning of the title track are sampled from a seance scene from the 1957 British horror film Night of the Demon, spoken by actor Maurice Denham.

[14] The Ninth Wave uses a great many textures to express the story: in the style of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's Arthurian poems, Bush pursues a vision quest, taking the listener through a death and rebirth.

The warmth of familiar sleep is cut by dangerous speed, ice and frigid water, an otherworldly trial and judgement, an out-of-body limbo, and finally a vigorous emergence and grounding in life energy.

A remix of "Running Up That Hill" with re-recorded vocals was broadcast during the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, with the song reaching number six on the UK Singles Chart.

The "EMI First Centenary" edition included six bonus tracks: 12″ mixes of "The Big Sky" and "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)", and the B-sides "Under the Ivy", "Burning Bridge", "My Lagan Love", and "Be Kind to My Mistakes", the last of which was written for Nicolas Roeg's 1986 film Castaway and plays during the opening scene.

[21] During her 2014 Before the Dawn concerts, Bush performed almost the entire album live for the first time, with the exceptions of "The Big Sky" and "Mother Stands for Comfort".

"Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" had previously been performed live in 1987 with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd at the Secret Policeman's Third Ball.

In a five-star review, Sounds called the album "dramatic, moving and wildly, unashamedly, beautifully romantic", before going on to state, "If I were allowed to swear, I'd say that Hounds of Love is f***ing brilliant, but me mum won't let me".

The violence of The Dreaming has turned into despair, confusion and fear – primarily of love, a subject that remains central to Bush's songwriting."

The review went on to scorn the idea that by signing to EMI Records as a teenager, Bush had allowed herself to be moulded in their corporate image, suggesting that on the contrary, it had enabled her to use the system for her own purposes: "Our Kate's a genius, the rarest solo artist this country's ever produced.

"[34] Melody Maker was more reserved, saying, "Here she has learned you can have control without sacrificing passion and it's the heavyweight rhythm department aided and abetted by some overly fussy arrangements that get the better of her".

Of The Ninth Wave suite on the second side of the record, NME felt "she makes huge demands on her listener and the theme is too confused and the execution too laborious and stilted to carry real weight as a complete entity".

The review noted "while her eclecticism is welcomed and rewarded in her homeland her genius is still ignored here – a situation that is truly a shame for an artist so adventurous and naturally theatrical", and hoped that "this album might gain her some well-deserved recognition from the American mainstream".

[36] Rolling Stone, in their first review of a Kate Bush record, was unimpressed: "The Mistress of Mysticism has woven another album that both dazzles and bores.

"[37] The New York Times characterised the album's music as "slightly precious, calculated female art rock" and called Bush "a real master of instrumental textures.

[41] In a poll of the public conducted by NPR, Hounds of Love was voted in fourth place in its list of 150 greatest albums ever made by female artists.