"Waiting for a Star to Fall" was the most successful song by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl. It made number 9 in the UK charts during January 1989, having entered the chart in December 1988. It charted higher in the United States, reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart. It was also a top 5 Hit in Australia in April/May '89. The song was originally written for Whitney Houston but was rejected as unsuitable. A rumor claimed that the song had been previously been named "Waiting for your Love To Come". Purportedly, when rejected by Houston, the song was changed to "Waiting for a Star To Fall" out of spite. Boy Meets Girl reports this is not true. The song was offered to Belinda Carlisle who recorded a demo of it for her "Heaven on earth" album though the track remained unreleased, although the demo was later leaked.

The song was featured in the hit movie Three Men and a Little Lady (1990).

The song has also recently been remixed three times, resulting in new interest in the original and Boy Meets Girl duo. The dance outfit Cabin Crew remixed the song as "Star To Fall", although it could be argued that it is a cover due to the re-recording of the lyrics for the remix. Their remix made number 4 in the UK charts in March of 2005. In the same month another remix, by Sunset Strippers, made number 3 under the name "Falling Stars". The Sunset Strippers remix, unlike the Cabin Crew one, used the original recording. This caused some confusion at the time, with two songs being released into the charts at the same time that sounded essentially the same. Another remix was made in 2007 by Dan Winter, his version is named "Carry Your Heart".

A song entitled "In My Arms" sampled this song and was featured on the album Destroy Rock & Roll by Scottish electronic musician Mylo. This version also sampled the instrumental of "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it made #13 in the UK, also in 2005.