"Never Really Over" peaked within the top 10 in as Australia, Canada, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines and Scotland as well as the top 20 in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

[7] On November 29, 2019, a Black Friday Record Store Day limited edition 12" orange vinyl was released, pairing the song with Perry's next single "Small Talk".

She wrote that Perry made "bad decisions sound enticing" and hailed it as her "most impressively tongue-tied chorus to date".

[18] Chris Willman of Variety shared a similar view, saying the repetition in the chorus "somehow works to the song's tongue-twisting advantage".

Club's Gwen Ihant wrote that the track "puts Perry right back in earworm territory" and called it an "impressive showcase" of her vocals with an "addictive hook songwriters dream of".

[21] The Independent's Roisin O'Connor regarded "Never Really Over" as a "truly gratifying return" for Perry after "a period of misfires", noting that it has "hooks galore and harks back her Teenage Dream days of uplifting, bright pop music.

"[22] Ilana Kaplan of Rolling Stone favored "the return of her hypnotic vocals" and felt the song "puts Perry back where she belongs: on Sugar Mountain.

[24] Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times compared the song's "willfully imprecise" lyrics and "carefully reverbed" vocals to "Me!"

"[25] "Never Really Over" debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 31,000 pure sales and 15.8 million streams, giving Perry her 19th top 20 song in the country.

[32] On May 29, 2019, Perry shared a teaser for the music video with the caption "Let it go..."[33] It amassed more than 17.7 million views within its first day of release.