Underground was released on September 16, 2003, by Motown Records. It debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in the week of October 4, selling 143,561 copies in its first week. Ultimately spending 11 weeks on the Billboard 200, it also entered at number two on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and spent 30 weeks on the chart. By December 2003, the album had sold 394,000 copies domestically. Its first single, "Love of My Life (An Ode to Hip Hop)", peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The second single "Danger" reached number 82 on the Hot 100 and number 27 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while the third single "Back in the Day (Puff)" peaked at number 62 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. On October 28, 2003, Worldwide Underground was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America, following sales in excess of 500,000 copies in the United States. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 609,000 copies in the United States.Worldwide Underground received generally lukewarm reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 71, based on 14 reviews. Andy Kellman from AllMusic said the record sounded "more like a weekend jam session than an endlessly labored-over, polished project. For the most part, this is a good thing". PopMatters critic Mark Anthony Neal commended Badu for her themes relating to hip hop culture and for her musical direction, writing that "it finds the artist Stepping into Tomorrow, with a new production collective in tow and some straight-up, free-floating, funky-ass R&B. And for the first time in her career, Badu is wearing her own voice and it is unmistakably Badu". Georgia Christgau from The Village Voice wrote that "although sometimes her reliance on mood threatens to get the better of Worldwide Underground, Badu remains faithful to the old school of flow, a blend of drums and rhythm designed to service soul's best instruments: its vocalists." Slant Magazine ranked the record number 90 on its list of the Best Albums of the Aughts. In a less enthusiastic review, Uncut deemed Worldwide Underground oft-interesting but too groove-oriented music, while Blender observed "rambling, digital fiddling and self-indulgent sprawl here, but a sense of purpose, too, even as