"Vision of Love" received universal acclaim from music critics. While the song's production was typical of late 1980s pop, the vocals were not, being much more showy and expressing a wider range than artists popular at the time such as Paula Abdul and Debbie Gibson. It has been credited with popularizing the use of melisma in contemporary popular music and for inspiring several artists to pursue a music career. "The New Yorker" named "Vision of Love" the "Magna Carta of melisma" for its and Carey's influence on pop and R&B singers and "American Idol" contestants. Additionally, "Rolling Stone" said that "the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love," inspired the entire "American Idol" vocal school, for better or worse, and virtually every other female R&B singer since the nineties." The song topped the singles charts in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States, where it spent four weeks atop the chart.