dubbed it Clarkson's "older-better-tougher-smarter album" and complimented the songs' "finger-wagging, rafter-reaching power". Allison Stewart of The Washington Post wrote that "Clarkson has two moods — scrappy and morose — and Stronger works every possible combination of both", and called it "a good album by a great vocalist who, it’s easy to still hope, is capable of a lot more." AllMusic's senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine attributed the album's success "entirely" to Clarkson, "whose personality and professionalism turn it into her best album since her Breakaway breakthrough in 2004". Jon Caramanica of The New York Times asserted that "Ms. Clarkson is turning into the Mary J. Blige of pop: so good at being wounded that no one wants to let her heal." Slant Magazines Jonathan Keefe felt that, with the exception of "Mr. Know It All"s "obvious electronic manipulation", Clarkson's performances are "more consistently lived-in and evocative than on any of her previous efforts." In a mixed review, Rolling Stone editor Jody Rosen wrote that "Clarkson remains a slightly wearying one-note artist—she's a wounded lover, bellowing her pain and scorching the earth. But wow—that voice." The A.V. Club was more critical, writing that "the album suffers from a heavily produced electro-sheen, and ends up feeling more manufactured than magical". Sputnikmusic was ambivalent towards Clarkson's attempt at "something with a deeper purpose" and questioned: "What do you listen to Kelly Clarkson for: the integrity of the songs, or the hooks?" Andy Gill of The Independent found no "development" in Clarkson's singing and panned its music as "an overlong string of standard putdown R&B and bogus emotional turmoil, the songs blitzed with generic power-ballad overkill." Commercial performance On its first week of release in the United Kingdom, Stronger sold 29,233 copies, enough for it to debut at number 5 in the UK Albums Chart, the album's release also helped lead single "Mr Know It All" ascend from six to four, with 53,307 in sales, becoming her second highest charting single there ahead of "Since U Been Gone" and behind "My Life Would Suck Without You." In Australia, the album debuted at number three in the ARIA Charts, which was lower than All I Ever Wanted but higher than My December. In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart with 163,000 copies sold, making it the second time Clarkson debuted at the second spot on the chart,