[14] In the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot said it "evokes the complex late ‘70s albums of Marvin Gaye", as "Maxwell explores his vulnerabilities and idiosyncrasies, while toughening up his sound.

"[24] Pitchfork critic David Drake found Maxwell "structurally ambitious" and avant-garde in his approach to musical structure, while writing that the record's best songs balance "compositional excellence, development, and tension, with carefully designed moods that reflect or complement each work's lyrical focus".

[20] Los Angeles Times writer Ann Powers found its songs' structure complementary to the album's themes, stating "the music replicates the experience of an intimate connection, its ebbs and surges, its sometimes frustrating turns".

[17] Jon Pareles of The New York Times later named it 2009's best album and found it radical in terms of contemporary R&B because of its supplicant and "elliptical" lyrics, hand-played instrumentation, fluid melodies, and "even when the rhythm gets funky, the sad, lovely songs — about a crumbling romance — are suffused with a yearning that's almost too intimate.

[25] Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic, writing in MSN Music that Maxwell "really believes that the quality of the sex is measured by its curlicues—and by how long it takes to come true"; he named "Badhabits" and "Helpsomebody" as the album's highlights.

[19] Allison Stewart from The Washington Post called the album "cerebral but impersonal" and felt that it "never quite breaks free of its self-imposed restraints".

[27] Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt said Maxwell's "sentiments rarely transcend the boudoir — and listeners lulled by the album's unvaryingly sleek, high-gloss beats may just drift off to dreamland before they get there".

[16] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim DeRogatis wrote that several songs "never rise above the level of pleasant background music", which he nonetheless found "gorgeously recorded, tastefully arranged and beautifully played".

[29] It was voted the year's 14th best album in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics nationwide, published in The Village Voice.

[30] It was also ranked seventh best by the Associated Press,[31] ninth by Billboard,[32] fifth by The Boston Globe's Sarah Rodman,[33] and first by The Washington Post's Chris Richards.

[34] BLACKsummers'night also earned Maxwell 2010 Grammy Awards in the categories of Best R&B Album and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (for "Pretty Wings").

[53] On January 19, 2010, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America,[54] following shipments in excess of one million copies in the United States.