[13] On the release day of "Yummy", Bieber joined the video-sharing social networking service TikTok and posted a video of himself lip-syncing to the song, and encouraged his fans to do so, as well.

[14] Bieber released several additional music videos for the song, titled: "Animated Version",[15] "x drew house, Animated Version",[16] "Beliebers React",[17] "Fan Lip Sync"[18] and "Food Fight",[19] and "TikTok Compilation Video"[20] and launched an official "Yummy" online game.

[30] Rania Aniftos of Billboard magazine said "Yummy" brings back "the flirtatious Bieber we've missed and been waiting for", describing the chorus as "catchy".

Rolli concluded calling the song a "win, an inevitable chart smash" and opined that it is "sure to sound even better when 50,000 fans scream it every night on his upcoming tour".

"[32] Mikael Wood of Los Angeles Times described the song as "a lithe little R&B number that faintly recalls Ginuwine's mid-'90s classic 'Pony' and basically three-and-a-half minutes of PG-13 sex talk seemingly directed at Hailey Baldwin".

[33] Brad Callas of Complex magazine listed "Yummy" amongst the best new music of the week and said Bieber's "pivot back to R&B is refreshing for those who were fans of his slept-on 2013 project, Journals".

Callas further remarked that the "silky vocals" is at times reminiscent of Bieber's 2016 collaboration with Post Malone, "Deja Vu".

Petridis pointed out the "shameless plug for his streetwear brand Drew House", "the cringeworthy use of trap ebonics", "use of baby talk to vaguely gesture at a world of sexual pleasure" and the "chorus seems designed purely for Gen Z-ers in yoga pants to spoon frozen acai into their mouths while miming along to the word 'yummy'".

He concluded by stating Bieber "doesn't need the TikTok virality, but craves its pop-cultural relevance – and that desperation chafes awkwardly against the spiritually grounded marital bliss of his current image".

Behind the scenes footage of shooting the music video was featured in the episode titled "Album on the Way" of the docu-series Justin Bieber: Seasons.

[41] In the United States, "Yummy" debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, blocked from the top spot by Roddy Ricch's "The Box", becoming Bieber's second consecutive single as a lead artist to debut at the second spot, following his Ed Sheeran collaboration, "I Don't Care", which was blocked from the top position by "Old Town Road" by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus.

The post also asked fans to create playlists of the song on repeat and play it overnight on low volume, and to buy the song multiple times through Apple Music and on Bieber's online store; thus, Bieber received further criticism for his "desperate" attempts to "manipulate" music streaming platforms.

Social media users labelled it as "transparent ploys" by Bieber's side to help "Yummy" debut at number-one on the Hot 100, by preventing "The Box" by Roddy Ricch from hitting the top spot.

Rotzank's video gained 3 million views in two days and led "Pizzagate" to become a trending topic on the Spanish-language Twitter.

[47] Bieber had initially marketed the song by posting photos of babies and toddlers and captioning them with "Yummy" on his Instagram page.