[14] In fact "Sausalito Summernight" reached the U.S. Top 40 a week prior to the 23 October 1981 release of Circle of Love, the first non-compilation Steve Miller Band album in four years, with the Top 40 tenure of that album's lead single, "Heart Like a Wheel", overlapping with that of "Sausalito Summernight" for four weeks in November 1981.

[22][23] Ensuant to the U.S. release of its parent album, Watts in a Tank, in the last week of May 1981, the track "Sausalito Summernight" quickly garnered airplay on FM radio.

[17] The track, which did in fact rank in the Top 20 on hit parades for the California cities of San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and San Jose, was supported in U.S. secondary markets over a wide geographic range, including Top Ten rankings in hit parades in New England, the South, including Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Texas, and in the states of Arizona and Nevada.

[26] However, after reaching the Top 40 in October 1981, "Sausalito Summernight" began to lose traction, the final quarter of the year evidently unfavorable to this summer-themed song.

The single was afforded an "eleventh hour" top-tier market breakout when playlisted in mid-October by Chicago Top 40 station WLS (AM): with a peak of #18,[27] the WLS hit parade tenure of "Sausalito Summernight" failed to significantly augment the track's Top 40 fortunes, the track peaking at #25 on the Hot 100 dated 21 November 1981.

The track was promptly playlisted throughout the CHUM Limited broadcasting chain, which included CFRW in Winnipeg and CFUN in Vancouver, with airplay spreading to additional stations.

[1] Ultimately ranked at #13 on the listing of the biggest hits of the year,[29] "Sausalito Summernight" in December 1981 had its Canadian sales reported as 100,000 units.