The song received second place behind Kanye West's "Gold Digger" on the 2005 Pazz & Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau. "Blender" ranked "1 Thing" number 191 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". It praised the song's "cascading drums…and Amerie's frantic, top-of-her-range vocals". Calling it "a pretty fucking smart move to wrap perfect pop around a question that stays open all night", Pitchfork listed the song as the second best single of 2005, behind Antony and the Johnsons' "Hope There's Someone". The song was ranked 32nd on Pitchfork's top 500 songs of the 2000s, and the publication included "1 Thing" in its collection of "The Pitchfork 500". Christgau named it the 25th best song of the 2000s.