The following year, the song became an international hit, entering the top 20 in Belgium, France, Ireland, Netherlands and New Zealand.

Its peak positioning in numerous weekly charts around the globe marked its contributions to the soft-rock genre which dominated the era.

[3] The band eventually re-recorded the single in Memphis in 1986, along with the remaining songs from the album, and transformed its composition to fit the pop-rock genre.

[4] To fit into the pop-rock genre, the song was re-recorded to have an accumulative beginning, with the riff being gradual and rhythmically active.

And I don’t know if I agree with that…”[7] On the five-disc Popped in Souled Out super deluxe edition, "Sweet Little Mystery" is featured on disc three as a "Mista E remix".

It contains montages, transitioning from their performing at a beach bar to dancing with the local community, displaying the many landscapes of the country.

[9] For the production of the "Sweet Little Mystery" video, Fowler (2017) stated he needed to adopt "the notion of performance in its fullest sense" to fit into the emerging "world of film and pop".

In the years following the song's release, the Wets endured widespread criticism, acquiring the reputation of being "the Scottish pop robbers", for using lyrics from Van Morrison's "A Sense of Wonder".

[15] Whilst Morrison sued the band, lead singer Marti Pellow stated they used two lines from "A Sense of Wonder" "to pay homage to him – Van the Man was a big influence on us".