Madonna's inspiration behind the song was the dance floor, and she wrote it while watching a handsome Puerto Rican man, across her balcony.
"Into the Groove" consists of instrumentation from synthesizers and drum machines.
The lyrics of the song are simple, written as an invitation to dance with the singer. However, it carries sexual innuendos and undertones in the meaning.
The song was appreciated by contemporary music critics as well as authors, who frequently called it "Madonna's first great single".
The song was a commercial success, reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom, where it was Madonna's first number-one single.