Away from the World

The album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200 with album sales of 266,000 in its first week, becoming the band's sixth consecutive album to top the chart.[3] By the end of December 2012, the album had sold 458,000 copies.[4] The album also peaked at the top of Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart, and reached No. 3 in Canada.[5]

"Mercy" was released as the album's lead single on July 16. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay chart, and also reached No. 95 on the Hot 100 and No. 30 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.[5] The second single, "If Only", was also successful on the AAA chart, reaching number 11.[5]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	77/100[6]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]
Billboard	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]

Away from the World received a positive reception from critics. Billboard awarded the album four stars out of five, and called the band "as intriguing and adventurous now as it was when the Lillywhite-produced Under the Table and Dreaming came out [in 1994]."[8] Rolling Stone praised Lillywhite's production and the interplay between band members, highlighting the album's fusion of "New Orleans R&B, lithe jazz fusion and nimbly driving jam rock".[10] Megan Ritt of Consequence also gave praise to Lillywhite's production and the album's simplified sound, saying "despite having more players in studio than ever, DMB manages to sound stripped down — and more like itself than it has in a long time."[11] Ritt considered primarily acoustic tracks such as "Sweet" and "Belly Full" to be among the album's highlights, saying that their stripped-back arrangements "unearth a simple truth: these are genuine craftsmen."[11] Writing for The Boston Globe, Scott McLennan singled out album opener "Broken Things" and "The Riff" as highlights, praising the former's "tension-building contrast between desire and darkness" and feeling the latter "wends through fears and hopes and ultimately reveals the breadth of the band’s prowess".[12]

Classic Rock praised "Mercy"'s "tender John Martyn soul", while saying "The Riff" "merits its title" and referring to "If Only" as "just lovely".[13] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine also gave the album a rating of four stars out of five.[7] Erlewine felt "there's no denying he's the best producer for the band", commending him for "articulating [the band's] elasticity with clarity and reigning in their excesses."[7] He praised the album's diversity, saying it contains "a little of everything that the Dave Matthews Band does, condensed to a relatively tight 53 minutes", and summed it up as "a rare thing: a return to form lacking an ounce of nostalgia".[7]

The album was listed at No. 29 on Rolling Stone's list of the top 50 albums of 2012, saying its "political entreaties made for some of 2012's best GOTV rock."[14] The Chicago Tribune also included the album in their list of the best releases of the year.[15]