The song became the group's second number-one hit in the United Kingdom, while reaching the top ten in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand.

In addition, it attained top forty positions in Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

[11] Melinda Newman of HitFix, polarised by its lyrical content, wrote that women want men to pretend their flaws do not exist and not see them.

[12] Both Kate Wills of The Independent and Rolling Stone writer Jon Dolan criticised the lyrical content as jarring.

[13][14] Although Bill Lamb of Dotdash shared Smith's sentiment, he favoured Gosling's "beautiful" production of the song and the group's "top notch" vocal performance.

[9] Al Fox of BBC Music, who noted a "pursuit for credibility", felt that One Direction were "handing in their identity" with "Little Things".

"[16] The Boston Globe editor Sarah Rodman selected the "essential" song as the album's "best" attribute,[17] and Matt Collar from AllMusic considered the ballad "an air of maturity to One Direction's admittedly squeaky-fresh sound.

[8] "Little Things" made its Irish Singles Chart debut at number two in the week ending 15 November 2012, marking One Direction's fifth top-ten hit in Ireland.

[19][20] The track debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart on 18 November 2012, becoming One Direction's second number-one hit in the United Kingdom.

[21] Their second studio album Take Me Home and the single both debuted simultaneously at number one in the UK, making One Direction the youngest act in British chart history to achieve the feat.

[33][34] It held that position for a second week and has been certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting shipments of 280,000 copies.

[47] Tomlinson disclosed via social networking website Twitter that an accompanying music video for "Little Things" was in production on 15 October 2012.

"[50] While Arnell conceded that music video may seem like a simple concept, the shoot itself took over twelve hours to complete and said that it was "one of the hardest things I've ever done."

[52] Jocelyn Vena of MTV News characterised it as a straightforward video, which has a "quiet tone" that "complements the ballad's sentimental lyrics.

[51] An editor for Capital FM highlighted sequences in which the boy band "share individual emotionally charged scenes.

[56] The band performed the song along with "What Makes You Beautiful", "Live While We're Young", and "Kiss You" on The Today Show at the Rockefeller Center (13 November).

[60] "Little Things" was included on the set list of the group's headlining sold-out show at Madison Square Garden (3 December).