In the beginning, they only had scratch chorus demos of "Nothin' on You" and "Billionaire", with a guitar on the backing track and Mars singing on top of it.

[3] In 2013, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Mars revealed he took inspiration from Prince's "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" (1994) for the hook of "Nothin' on You".

[1][5] Initially, Mars was not supposed to feature on the hook, but his "charisma" when singing it, made the label want to keep his voice after he recorded the final version.

[6] However, when "Nothin' on You" was being shown to different music industry decision-makers, one of them tried to give the song to a "blue-eyed blonde" artist instead of Mars, due to his race.

Mars concluded, "Even with that song in my back pocket to seal the deal, things like that are coming out of people's mouths.

[14] American rhythmic contemporary radios began adding the track onto their playlists on February 2, 2010, being released under Atlantic Records and Grand Hustle.

[15] BBC Radio 1Xtra added a remix of the song onto their playlists featuring American rapper Big Boi on April 9, 2010.

[17][18][19] On May 17, 2010, the radio version of "Nothin' on You" was released in the UK via digital download by Atlantic Records, as well as on CD single, which also contained B.o.B's "Haterz Everywhere" featuring Wes Fif.

[23] On June 15, 2010, the song was released in South Korea with Jay Park's vocals, instead of Mars's verses, by Warner Music Group Asia Pacific.

[33] Angus Batey from The Guardian called the recording "glorious, euphoric, essentially old-fashioned kind of love song".

[34] Lyrically, the song describes B.o.B throwing away his old habits and telling the girl he loves he wants to "settle down", while flattering her.

[35] B.o.B, during his verses, makes references appealing not only to younger supporters, "Just like that, girl, you got me froze/ Like a Nintendo 64", but also to older admirers, "Baby you the whole package, plus you pay your taxes".

Levine concluded that although it doesn't show the same class as "Empire State of Mind" (2009) by Jay Z and Alicia Keys, "it's all so goddamn catchy you'd be a fool to give a hoot.

[32] Angus Batey thought the song would have stuck out in 2010, even without B.o.B's verses, since it is a clear departure from the "in-the-club, eyeing-up-the-booty clichés that have come to pass for romance in hip-hop".

[5] Kenny Herzog of Spin felt "Nothin' on You" to be the only "high point" on the record and called it straightforward "buoyant R&B".

[27] David Jeffries of AllMusic began by complementing B.o.B's persona, who he says is "filled with positive vibes and he isn't above pouring on the sweetness as he courts the ladies."

"[36] Mike Diver from the BBC labeled the single "sweet, summertime RnB", and also said "much of this impressive set showcases a deep appreciation of one of hip hop's four elements, MCing".

"[31] Pitchfork's Jayson Greene shared the same opinion, dubbing it as a low moment on the album and criticized Mars's crooning as sounding like an "air-conditioned sub-Coldplay".

[38] Becky Bain of Idolator, when comparing B.o.B's and Lupe Fiasco's versions of "Nothin' on You", noticed the lack of "audacious and energetic vocals" of the latter, as B.o.B has "more personality" on the track.

[55] Later, by September 2012, that number rose to 3,062,000 copies sold, which led it to be certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[62][63] In January 2020, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the recording a platinum plaque for track-equivalent sales of 600,000 copies.

[67] It charted at number 12 in Italy and received a gold plaque by the Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI).

[70] After its success in the country, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified it platinum for selling 70,000 digital copies.

[73] In South Korea, two versions of the song were released, one featuring Mars and another with Korean-American rapper and singer and ex-2PM member, Jay Park.

[76] Filmed in Los Angeles, the music video for "Nothin' on You" was directed by Ethan Lader, and the animation process was conducted by George Rausch.

[80] In the video B.o.B is seen traveling the world, in cities such as London, Paris, Tokyo, Atlanta and New Orleans, searching for beautiful girls.

and Bruno Mars performed a medley of "Nothin' on You" and "Airplanes" along with Hayley Williams at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.

Dead Prez sampled the song for their 2010 mixtape with DJ Drama titled Turn Off The Radio Volume 4: Revolutionary But Gangsta Grillz.

's duet, "My Love" and "Rocketeer" by Far East Movement and Ryan Tedder; they included it in their sixth EP, Acoustic Sessions, Vol.

[105] In the same year, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a parody of the song called "Another Tattoo", which is featured on his album Alpocalypse (2011).