On 14 September, 2015, Hitnrun Phase One was released worldwide on CD and digital download. The release was not listed ahead of time on most retailers' lists and did not fall on the usual Friday release date. It was intended to be a surprise, although French retailers began selling it three days earlier.
On 7 September, 2015, Hitnrun Phase One became available to stream exclusively on the Tidal streaming platform, along with a significant presence by Prince on the platform, including several re-releases of out-of-print albums and singles, including a slightly different version of The Chocolate Invasion.
On 30 July, 2015, the track Stare was made available to stream in full on Spotify. The track had previously been available only as three 20-second snippets.
