Joy Rosen of "Entertainment Weekly"s listed "Upgrade U" at number five on his list of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, complimenting the collaboration of Knowles and Jay-Z in the song as "both halves of music's power couple pay tribute to the virtues of materialism." Shaheem Reid, Jayson Rodriguez and Rahman Dukes of MTV News placed the song at number 11 on his year-end list of 27 Essential R&B Songs of 2007. On their ranking of the best singles of aughts, "Slant Magazine" included the song at number 168."Upgrade U" was nominated in the category of Best Duet/Collaboration at the 2007 BET Awards, but lost to "Runaway Love" by Ludacris (featuring Mary J. Blige).