"Beautiful Day" received mostly positive reviews from critics.
Olaf Tyaransen of
Hot Press called the song "surprisingly straightforward but still infectiously catchy",
The Guardian said the song "strikes an appropriate note of putting the past behind you and getting on with the rest of your life". The review praised the track for its "bustling beat", "contagious chorus and vintage guitar chimes from Edge".
Robert Hilburn of the
Los Angeles Times called the track proof that the band's music had once again been "graced by the glorious textures of Edge's guitar, and [that] Bono has dropped the masks".
Rolling Stone called the song "poised, then pouncing" and said it was one of many from the album that has a "resonance that doesn't fade with repeated listening".
The Philadelphia Inquirer was critical of the song, saying it was not "driven by the fire of true believers", but rather by the band's need for a hit, and that it was "a move to solidify a base that may already have slipped away".
David Browne of
Entertainment Weekly was very receptive to "Beautiful Day", noting that the chorus "erupts into a euphoric bellow so uplifting" that it was played during a television broadcast of the
2000 Summer Olympics. Browne called the "classic U2 arrangement" of the song "corny", but said, "damn if it isn't effective". He said the song made him reminiscent of the band's glory days in the late 1980s when so much popular music sought to be "sonically and emotionally uplifting".
Edna Gundersen of
USA Today was enthusiastic about the song, calling it "euphoric" and suggesting it was "breathing fresh air into playlists choking on synthetic
pop and seething
rap-rock". The
Detroit Free Press was critical of the album for being pedestrian but called "Beautiful Day" one of the album's "flashes of triumph", describing it as "a gloriously busy, layered song that recalls Bono's lyrically astute
Achtung Baby days".
NME published a negative review of the song after its single release that suggested
John Lennon's assassin,
Mark David Chapman, should be released from prison to shoot Bono, a statement that
Hot Press called "poisonous" and "tasteless".
Accolades and legacy "Beautiful Day" finished in fourth place on the "Best Singles" list from
The Village Voices 2000
Pazz & Jop critics' poll. The song won three
Grammy Awards at the
43rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2001—
Record of the Year,
Song of the Year, and
Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. In 2003, a special edition issue of
Q, titled "1001 Best Songs Ever", placed "Beautiful Day" at number 747 on its list of the greatest songs. In 2005,
Blender ranked the song at number 63 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". The
Labour Party subsequently made extensive use of the song during its successful
re-election campaign in 2005, though an unresolved dispute with and within the band prevented it being used in party political broadcasts. In 2009, in an end of decade rankings list,
Rolling Stone listed "Beautiful Day" as the ninth-best song and readers ranked it as the third-best single for the decade of the 2000s. In 2010,
Rolling Stone updated its list of "
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and placed "Beautiful Day" at number 345, making it one of eight U2 songs on the list. In 2011,
VH1 listed "Beautiful Day" at number 15 on its list of
The 100 Greatest Songs of '00s.
Rolling Stones 2018 list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the Century – So Far" ranked the song 40th. A version of the song was used as the theme tune to the
ITV football highlights television shows
The Premiership broadcast from 2001 to 2004 and
The Championship from 2004 to 2009.
Kurt Nilsen, the
Norwegian Idol winner sang it during the
World Idol competition on 25 December 2003 and won the competition with the song. This was the only
World Idol title and was not repeated in consequent years. In 2004,
Sanctus Real recorded a version on the album
In the Name of Love: Artists United for Africa. In 2007, the German guitarist
Axel Rudi Pell recorded his version on his album
Diamonds Unlocked. In 2008, the song was chosen to play over the end titles of the children's film ''
Nim's Island'', starring
Abigail Breslin,
Jodie Foster and
Gerard Butler. The song was also played after
John Kerry gave his acceptance speech at the
2004 Democratic National Convention in July 2004. The song was used by
Barack Obama's
2008 and
2012 presidential campaigns, together with the band's song "
City of Blinding Lights". In 2020, Obama listed "Beautiful Day" in a playlist of "memorable songs" from his presidency. In 2010, a cover of "Beautiful Day" was released by
Lee DeWyze as his first single following his victory in the
ninth season of
American Idol. DeWyze commented "I like that song a lot (...) Is it something that is necessarily in my genre? No. There were songs on the table, and I went with the one I thought would represent the moment the best." The cover reached number 24 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 and number 13 on the
Canadian Hot 100. "Beautiful Day" was also covered by 2010
X Factor Australia season 2 winner
Altiyan Childs for his
self-titled debut album. For the band's 2023 album
Songs of Surrender, U2 re-recorded the song with alternate lyrics during the bridge. ==Formats and track listings==