"Stronger" received acclaim from music critics. Stephanie McGrath of
Jam! considered the song "the best
dance track" of
Oops!, deeming the song "every bit as good as
*Nsync's '
Bye, Bye, Bye' or
The Backstreet Boys' '
The One'." Tracy E. Hopkins of
Barnes & Noble, while reviewing the album, said, "Spears shines on the tongue-in-cheek lead single, the triumphant 'Stronger'..." David Veitch of the
Calgary Sun considered "Stronger" to be as "another boom-bastic upbeat track", while saying the song is "notable for its foghorn synth, fabulous rhythm track and heavy effects applied to Britney's voice. Why she's panting at the end of the bridge is anybody's guess." A review by the
NME staff compared "Stronger" to songs recorded by
ABBA, saying, "there's the deranged helium synth pop of 'Stronger' with the huge ABBA chord change in the chorus that sounds scarier and more robotic than the Backstreet Boys." Andy Battaglia from
Salon said "Stronger" "could crush the entire self-help industry with its melody alone."
Digital Spy's Alim Kheraj pointed out the "deeper element of defiance embedded both within the lyrics and the epic chord progressions". Writing for
Pink News, Mayer Nissim deemed it "a perfect
pop masterpiece". For Alex Macpherson from
The Guardian, it's one of the best examples of Spears' "distressing vulnerability" as well as her second best song; "for the first but by no means last time, Britney embraces the inhuman qualities of her strange, hiccupping voice with vocals distorted and ground up against the beat". Shannon Barbour from
Cosmopolitan opined that it was "proof that Empowered Britney is the best Britney". Similarly,
Gay Times Daniel Megarry called it "an empowering gay club favourite".
Entertainment Weekly ranked it at number 14 on their ranking of Spears' songs; "['Stronger'] foretold the future, both lyrically (she vowed to do things 'my way') and sonically (the stormy electronic touches hinted at a shift in her
Scandi-pop sound). Today, it's the theme song for her resilience".
Rolling Stone hailed it "a dance pop anthem of self-empowerment that is both obviously autobiographical and highly relatable to anyone eager to define themselves as a young adult". Caryn Ganz from
Spin said that "Britney's first self-empowerment anthem is still her best: a strutting finger-wagger that's somehow also a fist-pumper". ==Chart performance==