It was first released as a single by Rose Royce in 1977 and has since been recorded by numerous acts including the Cover Girls in 1992, Jay-Z in 1998, Beyonce in 2005, and Seal in 2011.

21 Savage used a sample of the original 1977 version for his hit "All of Me", which was released on his 2024 album American Dream, and used earlier in the trailer for his debut film, American Dream: The 21 Savage Story Included on their second album, In Full Bloom (1977), "Wishing on a Star" is a slow ballad written by former Undisputed Truth member Billie Rae Calvin and produced by Norman Whitfield.

[4] In Brazil, this version gained popularity after being included in the soap opera De Corpo e Alma soundtrack, being the theme of the character Yasmin Bianchi, who was played by actress Daniella Perez.

American rapper Jay-Z covered Wishing on a Star, featuring Gwen Dickey of Rose Royce, in 1998.

A music video for the song was also released, showing a child actor David Sincere Aiken portraying Jay-Z growing up in Marcy Houses.

[7] British magazine Music Week gave the song four out of five, writing, "This cover keeps close to the original with Dickey's vocals leaving Jay Z to add a Nineties feel with his rap.

[14] The cover was also used to promote the fragrance True Star endorsed by American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger in 2004.

[24] In her review for Soul 2, Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian expressed, "His voice and interpretive skills are such, though, that most tracks fit him like a glove, to the point where, on Rose Royce's Wishing on a Star, his oak-aged vocal seems a better fit for the remorseful lyric than original singer Gwen Dickey's.

[25] In his review, Mike Diver of the BBC expressed that "Seal has a voice that can melt icecaps has never been doubted by his detractors – the problems with his material post-Seal (II) went deeper, to a basic songwriting level.

Here, freed of the weight of his own emotions, he soars on a sublime Wishing on a Star (which manages to borrow its smoky backing from Sade's Smooth Operator).

[27] Wishing on a Star was covered by the finalists of the eighth series of The X Factor, also featuring previous boyband contestants JLS and One Direction.