The song was a success, peaking at number one and two in Spain and the United Kingdom as well charting with the puncak, atas ten in New Zealand and Italy. "Leave Me Alone" was generally well received oleh contemporary musik critics.

A musik video was released for the song. The video also appeared on the music/fantasy movie Moonwalker in 1988. Leave Me Alone was the fifth segment of the film, and it is an animated musik video, focusing on media interest in Jackson's personal life, because he had felt that the tabloid, media, press, paparazzi, etc. wouldn't leave him alone, no matter what he did to prove his innocence. The albums musik video was the recipient of a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Short Form musik Video, being the only Grammy Michael would recieve for his musik video on the album Bad. Despite the success of the single, the song never appeared on any of Jackson's world konser tours.