Commercial performance

The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, with moderately successful first week sales 51,000.^[2][3]

The first single, "How We Do It (Around My Way)" features rapper Ludacris, only peaked at number seventy-seven on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[4] It peaked at number seventy-five on the UK Singles Chart. "Girls Around the World" was the album's second single. It features the rapper Lil Wayne. The single was sent to U.S. radio stations for airplay consideration on May 12, 2008.^[5] It peaked at sixty-four on Billboard's Hot 100 and thirteen on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[6] The third and final single was "Year of the Lover". The single version featured rapper Plies. It only peaked at number one on the Billboard Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles. "I Can Change Your Life" was supposed to be the fourth single from the album, but was cancelled due to the lackluster chart performance of "Year of the Lover".

Critical response

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[7]
AllMusic	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[9]
New York Daily News	[10]
Newsday	(B) link
Rolling Stone	link at the Wayback Machine (archived September 15, 2008)
Slant Magazine	[11]
The Guardian	[12]
UGO Networks	(C+) link
USA Today	[13]

Lessons in Love received mixed or average reviews from critics. It holds a 60 out of 100 from Metacritic.^[14] AllMusic gave the album 3 out of 5 stars saying, "Between 'I'm Wit It', 'Girls', and a couple other standouts, Lessons in Love cannot be dismissed, but Lloyd will have to really change it up with his fourth album to evade a real holding pattern."^[8] Rolling Stone also gave the album 3 out of 5 stars saying, "Throughout Lessons in Love, Lloyd sounds like he's actually having fun dishing out come-ons, adding an emphatic exuberance to each one."^[15]