According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), Harry Styles was the ninth global best-selling album of 2017 with sales of one million copies.

"[3][4] In February 2016, it was confirmed that Styles had left the group's management,[5] becoming the second member of the band to do so after Zayn Malik's departure almost a year prior.

[22] On 9 May, Styles performed the tracks "Carolina", "Sign of the Times", "Ever Since New York", and a cover of One Direction's "Stockholm Syndrome" on The Today Show.

[25][26] Styles held a similar show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on 19 May, and invited Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks to perform as a special guest.

[43][49] The acoustic closer track, "From The Dining Table", features lush, multi-part harmonies, and recalls the confessional style of the album's opener.

[50] AllMusic critic Tim Sendra opined that the album works "exceedingly well" as a modern pop record and an extension of the sound and brand of One Direction, but "as the kind of personal statement Styles wants to make, it comes very close, but ultimately falls just short.

"[47] For Jason Lipshutz of Billboard, Styles "has opted to forego radio play and make a big, brash guitar album", arguing, "his commitment to conjuring the spirit of '70s rock never comes across as overreaching.

[57] Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times wrote Styles "never overplays his hand on this winningly relaxed collection", but found the "dad-baiting" album to be "full of echoes of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and The Rolling Stones.

Club felt Styles took a "bold step forward by leaning on the past", adding, "hopefully the songs will someday catch up to his ambition".

[53] Alexis Petridis of The Guardian stated that while "Styles is remarkably good as a confessional singer-songwriter [...] not all the album's musical homages work".

[54] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times felt the "sometimes great, sometimes foggy" album is "almost bold in its resistance to contemporary pop music aesthetics.

[34] Regarding the use of tropes, Roisin O'Connor of The Independent was disappointed that Styles did not "break away from some of the more fatigued gender archetypes that dominate the rock music he clearly loves.

"[55] Shahzaib Hussain of Clash contended that Styles "[created] an immersive, reference-fuelled tribute to classic rock for the millennial generation", albeit "[offering] little in the way of innovation".

However, Hussain singles out "Only Angel" and "Kiwi" for being "misfires", calling the tracks "a one-two punch of masochistic, rock swaggering, admirable in its legerdemain, [that] ultimately comes undone by haphazard lyricism.

"[62] In a negative review, Dave Hanratty of Drowned in Sound felt that Styles "failed to make a defining statement", writing that the album "from start to finish [...] is a series of impressions" of Elton John, Beck, Mick Jagger, and The Beatles.

[63] Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph wrote that, compared to the other One Direction member's solo careers, Styles' is "more eccentric but more appealing, with an endearing quality of relish in its musical adventures", calling the album "so old-fashioned it may actually come across as something new to its target audience" and "perfectly lovely and about as substantial as ripples on the surface of a Beverly Hills swimming pool".

[65] Leonie Cooper of NME described the album as "a not-that-bad-actually mish-mash of Los Angeles' style classic rock and ballads", commenting that fans will be "over the moon with this collection of radio-friendly rockers and heartstring tugging balladry" and "everyone else" will be "pleasantly surprised – if not a little taken aback at just how many tricks he’s pinched from other artists".

She ends the review by opining that "taking inspiration from the best seems to have paid dividends, but it doesn’t half make you wonder what the real Harry Styles sounds like".

[66] Jamieson Cox of Pitchfork wrote that the record "pays fine tribute to classic rock’n’roll and shows off his exceptional voice, if not his enigmatic persona", opining that his "vocal performances are invariably the best parts of these songs" while particuraly praising the album's last track, "From the Dining Table", writing that "it’s intoxicating, and it ends Harry Styles on the most promising possible note".