The lyrics carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed.

Internationally, "4 Minutes" topped the charts in 21 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The music video shows Madonna and Timberlake singing and running away from a giant black screen that devours everything in its path.

The song received two Grammy Award nominations for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals and Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical at the 2009 ceremony.

[3] Ingrid Sischy from Interview magazine said that the song felt like a ballad for the world, containing "the sounds of a great big marching band.

[7] At Sarm, Timbaland and Danja used Akai MPC3000 and Ensoniq ASR-10 sampling drum machines, Yamaha Motif workstation and synths to build the backing track for "4 Minutes".

On Timbaland's vocals, he utilized the SSL's EQ to reduce "some bottom end", and he set input levels to avoid clipping.

[9] It incorporates the effect of a marching band,[2][5] a clanging beat and instrumentation from a brass that is played in a "scale-like riff", as described by Caryn Ganz from Rolling Stone.

[11] The lyrics of "4 Minutes" carry a message of social awareness, inspired by Madonna's visit to Africa and the human suffering she witnessed.

[12] Madonna explained in New York magazine that the line "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" did not relate to her charity work.

"[2] Caryn Ganz of Rolling Stone called it "a loud, busy, energetic track", and commented that Timberlake did "his best Michael Jackson impression".

"[14] Billboard music reviewer and editor Chuck Taylor said that "There's an awful lot going on in the busy dance track [...] but the trade-off chorus between Madge and Justin of 'We've only got four minutes to save the world' is hooky enough unto itself to sell the song."

He added that the song "qualifies as an event record between superpowers [Madonna and Timberlake] who not only share equal billing, but sound gangbusters together.

[15] Also from Entertainment Weekly, Chuck Arnold felt that "['4 Minutes'] tries a little too hard — sounding more like a Timberlake-Timbaland joint than a Madonna song", but pointing its "all-star magnetism".

"[17] Joey Guerra of Houston Chronicle compared the track to the work of Nelly Furtado and felt that the composition was "a bid for radio play.

"[21] Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe believed that the song is "chart-topper for its sheer star power as well as instant musical allure, and on the eve of Madonna's 50th birthday [...] '4 Minutes' feels a lot like an icon's can't-miss gift to herself."

However, she noticed that the "shift in the power structure [is nowhere] more blatant than on '4 Minutes', where Madonna sounds like a featured guest trying to keep pace with Timbaland's colossal beats and Timberlake's nimble melody.

"[22] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the melodic and rhythmic hook, but was disappointed that Madonna's voice is "drowned out by Timbaland's farting four-note synth – which might not have been so bad if the tracks were fresher and if the whole enterprise didn't feel quite so joylessly mechanical.

"[23] At the 51st Grammy Awards, "4 Minutes" garnered Madonna, Timberlake and Timbaland a nomination in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

[24][25] While ranking Madonna's singles in honor of her 60th birthday, The Guardian's Jude Rogers placed "4 Minutes" at number 35, writing that "Timbaland’s synth-brass intro here is fantastic, and the song’s end-of-the-world grandeur still sounds razor-sharp", but stating that it would be "better without Timberlake".

[26] In the United States, "4 Minutes" debuted at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the issue dated April 5, 2008, based solely on airplay.

[31][32] Almost five months after its release, "4 Minutes" was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of two million paid digital downloads.

[36] In Canada, Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS) confirmed that "4 Minutes" debuted at the top of the Canadian Contemporary Hit Radio chart.

[39] By the end of the year, "4 Minutes" was the fifth best selling digital song in Canada with sales of 143,000 copies, and ranked fourth on the year-end tabulation of the Canadian Hot 100.

[48][49][50] According to the Official Charts Company, it was the ninth best-selling song of 2008 and has sold 627,000 copies there as of April 2019, being certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

[55] The music video was directed by French duo Jonas & François and filmed at Black Island Studios in London from January 31 to February 2, 2008.

[5][56] It featured choreography by Jamie King, who worked on Madonna's Confessions, Re-Invention and Drowned World tours as well as her video for the single "Sorry" (2006).

We basically gave the song to the two French directors [Jonas & François] and they came up with the only concept that I thought was interesting, with this black sort of amorphous graphic line slowly eating up the world.

[6] The video starts with Timbaland chanting the opening line in front of a giant timer screen that counts down from four minutes.

[71][72] On July 27, 2017, Madonna made a special appearance at Leonardo DiCaprio's annual fundraising gala, which took place in Saint-Tropez, France, and performed "4 Minutes" dressed in a green suit with feathers.