Alexis Petridis of "The Guardian" described "Let England Shake" as "a richly inventive album that's unlike anything else in Harvey's back catalogue" and referred to Harvey as being "at her creative peak." In "The Daily Telegraph", Neil McCormick called it an "extraordinary album" and "a profound and serious work from a singer-songwriter at the height of her powers, a meditation on mankind's apparently endless appetite for self-destruction" and in "The Independent", Andy Gill stated that it "may be her best album," described it as "a portrait of her homeland as a country built on bloodshed and battle". Amanda Petrusich, in her review for "Spin", praised the album's "bloody and forceful" sound, and Jesse Cataldo of "Slant Magazine" said that "Let England Shake" creates a "matchless musical world where Harvey reigns with autonomy". "Pitchfork" editor Scott Plagenhoef noted that "it's universal and it's necessary-- and it's powerfully and clearly stated", giving the album a "Best New Music" designation. Robert Christgau, writing in "MSN Music", called the album "a suite of well-turned if unnecessarily understated antiwar songs" and compared Harvey's "evolution" to that of Annie Haslam. "Rolling Stone" gave the album a mixed review and a three-star rating. Stuart Maconie wrote in "Radio Times" that "all her records have been interesting and singular, but for me none had the sheer, visceral, otherly power" of "Let England Shake". The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". "Let England Shake" entered the UK Albums Chart at number 8 with first-week sales of 22,468. These sales were an improvement on the estimated 14,000 copies of her previous album "White Chalk"s first-week sales. "Let England Shake" was also Harvey's second album to reach the Top 10, and the first in eighteen years, since "Rid of Me" peaked at number 3 in May 1993. The album also entered the "Billboard" 200 in the United States at number 32 with sales of around 18,000 copies. Following its win of the Mercury Prize in September 2011, "Let England Shake" re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 24. Sales of the album increased by 1,100% following the awards ceremony and it was subsequently certified Gold in the United Kingdom for shipment of over 100,000 units.