and tried to call / My tears could fill the Albert Hall." Stuff.co.nz commented that the lines, "I don't recall the reasons why, I must have meant them at the time, is this the sound of sweet surrender?" were the two "patch[ing] things up" and a "happy ending". Critical reception "Shame" received generally favourable reviews from contemporary music critics. Nissim gave the song three out of five stars and wrote that although it is not as good as Take That's previous singles, "Patience", "Back for Good" and "Pray", "it sounds awfully sweet and, more importantly, absolutely genuine." Sean Egan of BBC Music stated that the single, "is as good as it sounds on paper, Barlow's sumptuous melodic skills allied to a lyrical prowess we never suspected Williams had in the Take That days as the two engage in a sweetly regretful dialogue with each other about their past feuds." A reviewer for CBBC described it as a "really sweet" and "meaningful" song that has "cheeky" sense of humour and words that can make the listener happy. USA Todays Jerry Shriver noted that "Shame" confirms Williams as a "former boy wonder" who "is in no danger of losing his mojo". Katie Boucher of The National called the single "a bouncy reconciliatory duet" with a sound more similar to Take That, rather than Williams's solo material. In a less enthusiastic review, Scott Causer of Contactmusic.com stated, "the song is a cheesy paean to their past. To their credit they don't pretend it's anything other than that." MusicOMH's Nic Oliver called the collaboration "wooden musically", but noted that Williams succeeds to "turn in wry, self-deprecating lyric that bodes well for his mature years". Commercial performance On 10 October 2010, "Shame" debuted and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and the Scottish Singles Chart with over 107,000 copies sold for the week. Two weeks prior, the song peaked at number one on the UK Airplay Chart. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), denoting shipments of over 200,000 copies in the country alone. On the Irish Singles Chart, the single debuted and peaked at number eight on 7 October. In Italy, the song debuted and peaked at number seven on singles chart; the next week it fell to number eight. The Italian Music Industry Federation (FIMI) certified the song gold for sales of over 15,000 copies in the