It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart and peaked within the top 10 in countries like Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand.

An accompanying music video was made for the song and features references to Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

"[1] The music video to "The Riddle", directed by Storm Thorgerson[2][3], depicts Kershaw walking through a house shaped like a question mark, making his way through certain obstacles and looking through drawers while singing.

The video depicts many references to Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) with an appearance of a young girl exiting the room through a small door, two portly gentlemen who resemble Tweedledum and Tweedledee and an observation made by Kershaw to Through the Looking-Glass (1871).

"The Riddle" was covered as a dance song by Italian DJ Gigi D'Agostino, featuring uncredited vocals by British singer Adam Austin.