"Year Zero" received generally favourable reviews from music critics, with an average rating of 76% based on 28 reviews on review aggregator Metacritic. Robert Christgau described "Year Zero" as Reznor's "most songful album", while Thomas Inskeep of "Stylus" magazine praised it as "one of the most forward-thinking 'rock' albums to come down the pike in some time". Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" called the album Reznor's "strongest, weirdest and most complex record since "The Downward Spiral"", and concluded that "he's got his bravado back." "Rolling Stone" ranked it at number 21 on its "Top 50 Albums of 2007" list.