According to Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album was "a huge hit and widely acclaimed, at least among industry professionals (critics didn't give it a second listen), leading to multi-platinum success and Grammys."

In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Erlewine says that while its success as a soft rock album has little cachet with most listeners, it "remains one of the best mainstream albums of its time" because of consistent song quality and Cross's skillful musicianship: "Yes, he does favor sentimentality and can be very sweet on the ballads, but his melodicism is rich and construction tight, so there's a sturdy foundation for the classy professional gloss provided by his studio pros and friends, including indelible backing vocals by Michael McDonald.

"[3] In retrospective appraisals, Christopher Cross is regarded as a key release of yacht rock music.

But its message fits the genre (a fool searching for inner peace), and yeah, it’s still undeniably smooth.

"[8] For The Vinyl District's online publication in 2018, Michael H. Little calls it the genre's best album as well as one of its smoothest, crediting it for making Cross "the face of soft rock".