"Number Ones" received universal acclaim from music critics.Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine gave the album four-and-a-half stars, commenting "that the songs on Janet Jackson's first-ever comprehensive hits collection, "Number Ones", have been sequenced in chronological order only magnifies the impact she had on late-'80s and early-'90s pop, when she helped define the sound of Top 40 radio along with the likes of Madonna, Prince, and her brother Michael."