"Hey Ya!" received universal acclaim from music critics and fans alike. PopMatters described the track as "brilliantly rousing" and "spazzy with electrifying multiplicity". "Entertainment Weekly" highlighted it as the catchiest song on the double album, and "Stylus Magazine" identified it as one of the best songs in OutKast's history. "Hey Ya!" topped the 2003 Pazz & Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau, with 322 mentions, beating runner-up Beyoncé Knowles' "Crazy in Love" by 119. It was listed at number 15 on "Blender"s 2005 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", and Pitchfork Media included it in its collection of "The Pitchfork 500".