"Closer" has been highly acclaimed, and is often cited as Joy Division's finest work, being considered by music critics such as Mark Fisher to be "the crown jewel of post-punk" and receiving praise from artists such as George Michael. The album was voted number 1 in the 1980 "Albums of the Year" poll conducted by music magazine "NME", and would be listed as number 157 upon the "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2004, and later ranked at number 309 in the 2020 edition.