Retrospectively, Bowie's original recording has been named one of his best songs, with many praising the haunting and unsettling nature of the recording. Following Bowie's death in 2016, "Rolling Stone" listed the song as one of his 30 essential songs. The same year, "Ultimate Classic Rock", in their list of Bowie's ten best songs, listed "The Man Who Sold the World" at number 10, calling it "one of his most haunting songs of all time". They subsequently commended Lulu and Nirvana's cover versions for helping bring the song into the mainstream. In 2018, "NME", in their list of Bowie's 40 greatest songs, ranked "The Man Who Sold the World" number 17, writing, "[The track] is not just a vintage slice of Bowie story-telling but a key part in his '90s renaissance, 20 years later", due in part to Nirvana's cover, which appeared at a time when "Bowie's critical stock was at a career-low... coming after Bowie's late-'80s run of maligned albums." In 2020, Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" ranked the song 23rd in a list of Bowie's 50 greatest songs, writing, "The title track of his eeriest album remains mysterious, creepy and haunting 50 years on."