The song was released as the lead single from Enya's second studio album, Watermark, in October 1988. It became a global success, reaching number-one in several countries, including Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, where it stayed at the top of the UK Singles Chart for three weeks. In the United States, the song peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1989. In 1994, the song was licensed to Virgin Records for the best-selling new-age musiccompilation albumPure Moods, and in 1998 a special-edition 10th anniversary remix single was released. Part of its name is derived from Orinoco Studios, where it was recorded, and its pizzicato chords are highly recognizable as a new age sound. Signed to WEA by Rob Dickins, who served as executive producer of Watermark, "Orinoco Flow" was inspired by the Colombo-Venezuelan river, and it paid homage to Dickins in the line "with Rob Dickins at the wheel."
In 1989, iris breeder Cy Bartlett named a cultivar Orinoco Flow.
Samples of the backing track are used in Rebel MC's hit single "Tribal Bass".
In the 1997 South Park episode "Death", Stan's grandfather locks Stan in a room and plays a parody of the song performed by Toddy Walters to illustrate what it feels like to be old.
In the 2002 I'm Alan Partridge episode "The Talented Mr. Alan," Alan is caught singing the song to himself.
The song plays over the end credits of "Funeral", the sixth episode of the first series of Peep Show and the music video is shown during the episode. Jeremy also talks about Enya during the episode.
The song is played during Rumpelstiltskin's announcement scene in the 2010 film Shrek Forever After.
The song is featured during a sequence in David Fincher's 2011 adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in which Daniel Craig is tortured while his torturer listens to the song.
A version of the song is performed by the main character of Moone Boy when he and his friend are sailing on a homemade raft.
The song was referenced to as "Sarah Way" in Peter Kay's 2015 Sitcom Car Share.
The song was played in the first season of Cougar Town.
In the Black Mirror episode "Hated in the Nation", one of the characters listens to the song to relax.
Australian television showPlease Like Me features this song in the opening scene of the first episode of its fourth season.
In The Last Man on Earth episode "When the Going Gets Tough", Phil Miller sings the song to Erica as she prepares to give birth to her child.
In the Brooklyn Nine-Nine episode "Crime and Punishment", Jake Peralta mentioned Enya as one of his favorite musical artists. Later on, "Orinoco Flow" plays as he walks, in slow-motion, into a courtroom.
In the 2017 ITV tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, while Prince Harry recalls his mother listening to Enya driving in her BMW with the top down.
The song was featured in the 2018 Bo Burnham film Eighth Grade.
Maicol & Manuel sampled the chords in their song "No Hay Ley".
The song was featured in the 2018 animated film .
It was used in the first and second episodes of Living With Yourself.
