NME magazine ranked "7 Seconds" number 40 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994.[22] It was included in the 2010 book 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die. Eloise Parker remarked that "the soul of '7 seconds' is N'Dour's heartfelt vocals, sung in Wolof and French, enhanced by Cherry's haunting English-language chorus."[23]