 Joy Rosen of Entertainment Weekly 's listed " Upgrade U " at number five on his list of The 10 Best Songs of 2007 , complimenting the collaboration of Knowles and Jay @-@ Z in the song as " both halves of music 's power couple pay tribute to the virtues of materialism . " Shaheem Reid , Jayson Rodriguez and Rahman Dukes of MTV News placed the song at number 11 on his year @-@ end list of 27 Essential R & B Songs of 2007 . " Upgrade U " was nominated in the category of Best Duet / Collaboration at the 2007 BET Awards , but lost to " Runaway Love " by Ludacris ( featuring Mary J. Blige ) . 
