"Final Distance" received positive reception from most music critics, who praised the re-arrangement and favored this version, although some critics felt the song was inferior to her past ballad tracks. Critics have cited the track as one of Utada's career highlights. Commercially, "Final Distance" stalled at number two on the Oricon Singles Chart, making it her first single to have missed the top spot. The song also resulted in being her lowest selling physical singles at the time but was surpassed by her 2004 single "Dareka no Negai ga Kanau Koro".