Closer was released on 18 July 1980, through the Factory Records label, as a 12" vinyl LP. It reached number 6 on the UK Albums Chart. It also peaked at number 3 in New Zealand in September 1981. It claimed the number one slot on NME Album of the Year.

Closer, along with Unknown Pleasures and Still, was remastered and re-released in 2007. As with Unknown Pleasures and Still, the remaster comes packaged with a bonus live disc, recorded at the University of London.

In their review of the 2007 reissue of the album, Pitchfork remarked, "Closer is even more austere, more claustrophobic, more inventive, more beautiful and more haunting than its predecessor. It's also Joy Division's start-to-finish masterpiece, a flawless encapsulation of everything the group sought to achieve", giving the album a perfect score of 10 out of 10.

The album has been highly acclaimed, and is often cited as being Joy Division's finest work. It has made a number of best-of lists; for example, Pitchfork listed Closer as the 10th best album of the 1980s.[/url] It was placed 72nd on NME's list of the one-hundred greatest British albums ever. In 2003, the album was ranked at number 157 on Rolling Stone's list of the five-hundred greatest albums ever. In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at number 8 in its list of the forty best albums of the 1980s. In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at number 7 on its list of the best albums of the 1980s. Sonic Seducer listed it 2nd in their list "10 Key Albums for the Gothic Scene".

Closer was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You