In the US, the song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified eleven times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold 5.9 million digital downloads as of 2019.

The music video for "Bad Romance", directed by Francis Lawrence, features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse where she is kidnapped and drugged by supermodels who sell her to the Russian mafia for sexual slavery.

[1] Before its official release, a demo version was published illegally on the internet on October 2, 2009, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter that it "is makin[g] my ears bleed.

As gay and lesbian youth account for a large proportion of Gaga's fans, the line "I don't wanna be friends"—which explores the issue of falling in love with one's heterosexual best friend—resonates with them.

Kaufman lauded the drastic transition into a bombastic beat during the chorus,[2] which was called catchy by Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen,[33] one of Gaga's best by MusicOMH's Michael Hubbard[34] and "so wonderfully big it dwarfs the industry of a million angry dudes with guitars" by NME's Emily Mackay.

[36] Other reviewers commented on the song's sex appeal,[37] praised it for making Gaga's name a "Teutonic chant",[38] and called it a "turbocharged Euro-soul"[39] and a club-friendly tune that possessed a "sordid underbelly".

[40] "Bad Romance" was compared to Gaga's previous singles (including "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") by reviewers, with the criticism that it was not on par with them and lacked their instant catch.

Kitty Empire of The Guardian wrote "Bad Romance" made "this driven, uncharismatic Italian-American being [Gaga] the new Madonna",[43] and Spin's Josh Modell thought that with its "earworm nonsense lyric ('[r]a-ra-a-a-a, ra-ma, uh-uh-ah!

When the chorus plays for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a faux-polar bear hide jacket and walking toward the man, who is sitting on a bed and unbuttoning his shirt.

[b] Gaga, described by Christopher John Farley of The Wall Street Journal as "one of the few pop stars of the present time who really understood spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography" like Madonna and Michael Jackson in the 1980s,[36] was particularly praised by Jennifer Cady of E!

for revitalizing performance art and putting thoughts and care into her products;[83] Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times expressed similar sentiments, believing the video to be "worthy of a feature-length film".

[86][87][88] Media outlets noted the music video was reminiscent of the film Blade Runner (1982), Anubis Airlines from the television series True Blood (2008–2014), the works of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and Michael Jackson's Thriller.

[36] For Evan Sawdey of PopMatters, it remained unclear whether Gaga deliberately paid homage to Thriller or used this as another excuse to wear "the mostweirdass [sic] outfits ever designed by mankind".

The pair of razor-blade sunglasses that Gaga wore portrayed tough female spirit; she explained, "It's meant to be, 'This is my shield, this is my weapon, this is my inner sense of fame, this is my monster.

"[75] Author Robin James found Gaga's style in the video to be heavily inspired by goth fashion and aesthetics, including the Victorian-esque furniture and razor-blade eyeglasses.

For example, the words "Bath Haus of GaGa" in the video allude to English goth band Bauhaus, and her nude scene highlights her thin body's "grotesqueness" and vertebrae, which look like the ridges on a reptile's back.

[99] During this scene, Gaga is seen calmly smoking a cigarette, which to Gilad Padva in the Journal of LGBT Youth indicated that she liked the sexual encounter with her captor, who dies after being exploited by a "voracious" Gaga—an "unruly woman"[c] prioritizing her own satisfaction over attempting to please her male partner.

[103] A 2017 journal published by Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts studying structural patterns in the melodies of earworm songs compiled lists of catchiest tracks from 3,000 participants, in which "Bad Romance" ranked number one.

A highly successful blend of pop and synth maximalism, 'Bad Romance' was a tour de force by all accounts: brilliant lyrics; a shimmery, fashion-forward music video; record-breaking sales; and Lady Gaga's singular voice at its most guttural and raw."

[112] Rolling Stone believed the song epitomized the "essence of Gagaism"[e] and Billboard opined it captured "her grandiose aesthetic, daring songwriting, lyrical flourishes and dramatic vocal flair".

[113] Author Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis cited "Bad Romance" as one of the signature songs on The Fame Monster, in which Gaga immersed in "her stylized profile of the 'mad artist'", who challenged traditional gender norms and sexuality.

[120] Writing about the impact of Gaga's 2011 song "Born This Way" in the 2010s, Stephen Daw of Billboard called the "Bad Romance" music video a "culture-breaking moment".

"It offered a glimpse into an entire cinematic world that thrilled and disturbed in equal measure, expanding the possibilities of what a music video could achieve — and challenging other stars to step their game up at the same time", wrote Billboard in its listing.

[125] Occurring at a private party arranged by the character Blair Waldorf,[126] the episode features Gaga as she emerges from two giant doors and climbs up a ladder, which symbolizes bad luck.

[140] The same year, she sang a country version of "Bad Romance" at South by Southwest, and strapped on a rose-covered keytar while performing the song at her residency show, Lady Gaga Live at Roseland Ballroom.

[141][142] In July 2016, Gaga performed it in a piano medley along with "You and I" and the Beatles' "Come Together" at a concert at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, which was part of the 2016 Democratic National Convention.

[145] Gaga closed her set at the Super Bowl LI halftime show with "Bad Romance", wearing a silver, sequined Versace outfit with a shoulder pad-inspired jacket and hot pants.

[153][154] Nick Levine from NME opined that opening the concert with "Bad Romance", and her previous hit songs—"Poker Face" and "Just Dance"—showed that Gaga had "gumption" and the choice was "clever and daring".

[143] On March 29, 2010, Thirty Seconds to Mars covered the song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge,[155] which reached number 11 on the UK Rock Chart.

[160] "Bad Romance" was briefly played on violin by Geoffrey Rush, portraying Albert Einstein in a promo for the National Geographic Channel historical anthology series Genius.