3 Words "3 Words" for the first time with will.i.am during her one-off special for ITV, "Cheryl Cole's Night In". A reporter of "The Daily Mail" said Cole "[performed in] a glamorous flowing Kate Bush-esque black gown a duet of her latest single '3 Words'." In January 2010, Cole flew to Germany to perform "3 Words" at the German award ceremony DLD Starnight, which took place at the Haus der Kunst in Munich. She also performed the song as part of a four-song set at BBC Radio 1's "Big Weekend" as well as performing at the De Grisogono jewellery dinner party at
3 Words (song) at number seven in Ireland, the first being will.i.am's "Heartbreaker". Internationally the single peaked top five in Hungary, and Australia. In the latter it performed better than any song Cheryl released with Girls Aloud beating the previous best entry "Jump" by eighteen places. "3 Words" is the only song from Cheryl's debut album to peak within the top fifty of the Australian Singles Chart and was subsequently certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipping 70,000 units. Additionally it peaked at top-ten in Italy. The song debuted at 14 on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand.