"Doolittle" has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, certified gold in 1995, and platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. A 2003 poll of "NME" writers ranked "Doolittle" as the second-greatest album of all time, "Rolling Stone" placed the album at 227 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" and "Pitchfork" ranked it as the fourth best album of the 80s.