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On April 15, 2014, John Mayer covered "XO" during a concert in Adelaide, Australia. Three days prior to the performance, he used his Twitter account to praise the song, writing, "The best thing about Beyoncé? The break in her voice on the first 'baby, love me lights out' in XO. Real and raw." One month later, on May 22, he released a studio version of the song on his SoundCloud account. It was made available for digital download by Columbia Records on May 27, 2014 through the iTunes Store.
Mayer's version is an acoustic stripped-down rendition complete with guitar and accentuated by piano and harmonica. Kelcey Shipley from MTV News praised his version for its "simplicity" while Killian Young of Rolling Stone shortly described it as "sweet". Spin's Marc Hogan noted that "XO" was a "perfect song for him" and described it as "a person-to-person romantic exchange, transferred over to acoustic instruments but no less stadium-sized – or pop – for it." Lauren Nostro writing for Complex deemed Mayer's live rendition of the song "impressive" before adding that the harmonica, "will tug at your heart strings almost as much as the original song".
For the week ending June 1, 2014, Mayer's version debuted at number 90 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 13 on the US Hot Rock Songs chart, selling 46,000 copies. On the Canadian Hot 100, "XO" peaked at a position of 76. The single also debuted and peaked at number 81 on the Australian Singles Chart on June 7, 2014. On June 28, 2014, "XO" peaked at number 95 on the Dutch Singles Chart and it fell off the following week. In the UK, it peaked at 115 on the UK Singles Chart on June 7, 2014.
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