The song have received generally positive reviews . Allison Stewart of The Washington Post called the song " great and gooey " , saying that it sounded like " Bryan Adams teaming with Heart in 1984 for a contribution to some alternate universe Footloose soundtrack . " Blake Boldt of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs @-@ up , calling the song as " a dramatic affair that demonstrate how pop and country can intersect with each other and offer decent results . " He concluded his review by writing , " " Don 't You Wanna Stay " would be a suitable fit for a Foreigner or Whitesnake album , and , though nowhere near a classic , it ’ s an instant entrant into the " guilty pleasure " category . " Reviewing the album for Billboard , Gary Graff described the song as being part of an " array of such bittersweet , emotionally ambivalent goodbye songs " . Bobby Peacock of Roughstock gave the song three @-@ and @-@ a @-@ half star out of five and praised both Aldean and Clarkson 's fine voice , " making for an interesting combination : Jason 's rough , slightly nasal voice against Kelly 's cleaner , forceful tone . " In a different perspective , Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe graded the production of the song as " C " , lambasting the song for its musical element , writing " the sheer volume of noise that invade the track with the first chorus take us straight into Monster Ballads territory . " He concluded his review by emphasizing that " this isn ’ t country music . It just isn ’ t . " On March 5 , 2013 Billboard ranked the song # 40 in its list of Top 100 American Idol Hits of All Time .