The song is the title track of the group's debut studio album, The Rhythm of the Night (1995), and was written by Francesco Bontempi, Annerley Emma Gordon, Giorgio Spagna, Pete Glenister and Mike Gaffey.
It was produced by Bontempi, and the vocals were performed by Italian singer Giovanna Bersola, who is not credited on the single and does not appear in the music video.
[9] The song was credited to Francesco Bontempi, Annerley Emma Gordon, Giorgio Spagna, Pete Glenister and Mike Gaffey.
Brazilian singer Olga Souza would be fronting the song on stage and tour instead of Bersola, as well as in its accompanying music video.
It was a time when dance and euro house music was very prolific in Europe and I was living in Italy at the time, so I was singing three or four songs a day as a session voice.”[11] Regarding Souza fronting the group instead of her and the fact that they didn’t use Bersola's image on the single cover, she felt that it suited her, “That gave me the freedom to be absolutely no one.”[11] Bersola is no longer suffering from stage fright and now lives in New Zealand.
[12] In Europe the single entered the Eurochart Hot 100 on 12 February at number 63, and made a slow climb up to peak at five on 17 September.
It peaked within the top ten in several countries, including Australia (8), Austria (6), Denmark (4), France (3), Germany (8), Iceland (4), Ireland (3), the Netherlands (5), New Zealand (7), Scotland (2), Spain (3), Switzerland (3) and the United Kingdom (2).
In the United States, "The Rhythm of the Night" reached number eleven on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100.
Scottish Aberdeen Evening Express complimented "The Rhythm of the Night" as "a great Euro pop record" that "has been a top 10 hit in every European country.
He explained, "Thumping Italo disco beats support glossy faux-rave synths and a diva vocal that is forceful without being overly aggressive.
A wildly catchy and repetitive chorus already has begun to woo radio programmers in several major markets on import.
[18] Pan-European magazine Music & Media said, "Nocturnal dance party animals and daytime radio programmers sweat to the pulsating Euro beat.
"[21] Stephen Dalton from NME wrote, "Anal snobs who dismiss all Europop out of hand are clearly deaf to sensual, rollicking beauties like Corona's 'Rhythm of the Night' or The Real McCoy's 'Run Away'".
[22] James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update called it a "Olga De Souza cooed Euro smash".
Alexis Petridis wrote, "Nineties Euro pop-house was seldom a finely wrought artistic enterprise, but just occasionally, it hit on something incredible.
The video shows Dutch rapper Nicci, singing his part of the song, and Horler in a yellow jacket, rocking a rich old woman's mansion.