Most of the album's middle portion was heavily criticized, though "Like Toy Soldiers" and "Mockingbird" were particularly highly praised and have retrospectively been ranked as some of Eminem's best songs.

The album has sold 11 million copies worldwide and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 17, 2004.

[3] In a cover story celebrating the 25th anniversary of XXL magazine, Eminem stated: "So, I'm coming off The Marshall Mathers LP and going into Encore when my addiction started to get bad.

That year, 50 Cent and Trice released their debut studio albums, Get Rich or Die Tryin' and Cheers, respectively, to critical acclaim and commercial success.

[5] "Bully", a diss track toward Benzino, Ja Rule, and Murder Inc. Records,[22] ultimately would not see an official release.

The song was later reworked and released 20 years later under the title "Brand New Dance" on Eminem's twelfth studio album, The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) (2024).

[24][25] Overall, Encore contains more comedic themes and lyrics than Eminem's previous albums, including occasional toilet humour.

[31] The second album cover, used for the Collector's Edition, features the same audience from the inlay on a black background with a blood splat on the top right.

Encore received mixed to positive reviews from critics, with more of a negative response compared to Eminem's past three albums.

[32] Josh Love from Stylus Magazine felt Eminem was "dying" with this album, whose concept was "end-to-end mea culpa", full of "clarifications, rectifications and excuses", revising the history of "a man who knows he doesn't have much time left".

[42] Scott Plangenhoef, writing for Pitchfork called Encore a "transitional record" and "the sound of a man who seems bored of re-branding and playing celebrity games".

[38] BBC Music's Adam Webb believed it starts "fantastically" but ends "abominably", writing that it has too many "low points".

[43] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly said Eminem "sacrifices the rich, multi-textured productions" of his two previous albums for "thug-life monotony, cultural zingers for petty music-biz score-settling, and probing self-analysis for juvenile humor".

[35] Stephen Thomas Erlewine was more enthusiastic in his review for AllMusic, calling the music "spartan", built on "simple unadorned beats and keyboard loops", and the lyrics "plain-spoken and literal".

[33] Robert Christgau said Eminem still sounded "funny, catchy and clever, and irreverent past his allotted time", noting that even the bonus tracks "keep on pushing".

[44] In Rolling Stone, he wrote that Encore was not as "astonishing" as The Marshall Mathers LP, but praised Eminem for maturing his lyrical abilities while retaining his sense of humor.

[39] Steve Jones from USA Today also spoke positively about the album, calling Eminem's producing and lyrical skills as "top-flight" and noting that the record explores "the many sides of Marshall Mathers".

[47] Kemet High of XXL magazine placed Encore seventh in his 2021 ranking of Eminem's first 11 studio albums, believing that it "has aged better with time" despite being "a step back in comparison to the three-album run of The Slim Shady LP, The Marshall Mathers LP and The Eminem Show that preceded it".

[48] HotNewHipHop's Paul Barnes placed Encore second to last in his 2023 ranking of all of Eminem's studio albums except Infinite, deeming many of the songs "incoherent".