[2][5][3][6][7] At the time of his single's success, Ocean was quoted (indirectly) as considering himself "the most surprised person in the world that 'Love Really Hurts Without You' became a hit.

"[12] Ocean admitted that his song's tune strongly resembled the Four Tops' 1965 Pop/Soul classic "I Can't Help Myself", which via Donnie Elbert's 1972 remake had been a UK hit at the time of "Love Really Hurts..."' inception .

[39] Cash Box also ranked the Alex Brown version of "Love Really Hurts..." in its Looking Ahead to the Top 100 chart of singles in positions #101 – #120 at #107 (24 April 1976) and #120 (1 May 1976).

In 1986, the song was covered by the pop group Bad Boys Blue for their album Heartbeat and was released as a single, but did not chart.

On Belgium's Flemish chart – which had afforded the original Ocean version a #6 peak – the 1986 mix of "Love Really Hurts..." rose as high as #21 in January 1987.

"Love Really Hurts..." has since 1987 generated two successful Belgian remakes via two distinct Flemish renderings, the first a thematic departure from the English original: "Met z'n tweetjes", recorded by Bart Kaëll which in 2013 reached #3 on the hit parade rankings for Flemish acts:[43] the track was one of eight new songs included on the Kaëll retrospective album release 30.

"[46] Issued as the album's fifth single in March 2015, "Liefdesverdriet..." reached #15 on the hit parade rankings for Flemish acts.

1 their 2005 covers album; however, the track was shelved until January 2010 when it served as the B-side for the single release of "Forever Young".