Top 100 Emo Songs of All Time

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10. Sunny Day Real Estate | "In Circles"

"In Circles" by Sunny Day Real Estate from the album Diary (1994) The first eight seconds of Dan Hoerner’s screeching guitar riff hangs for what feels like forever until the crushing... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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9. Death Cab for Cutie | "Photobooth"

"Photobooth" by Death Cab for Cutie from the album Forbidden Love (2000) In the early aughts, young teens turning to emo culture for the first time were experiencing the genre’s pop-punk-inspired... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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8. AFI | "Girl's Not Grey"

"Girl's Not Grey" by AFI from the album Sing the Sorrow (2003) Punk purists hoping AFI would forsake increasingly introspective, melancholy auras and resume writing dumbass songs like “I Wanna Get... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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7. Fall Out Boy | "Sugar, We're Goin Down"

"Sugar, We're Goin Down" by Fall Out Boy from the album From Under the Cork Tree (2005) Suicide is not emo, but attempted suicide is: because “emo” isn’t “emotional” so... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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6. Taking Back Sunday | "MakeDamnSure"

"MakeDamnSure" by Taking Back Sunday from the album Louder Now (2006) Long Island’s great post-millennial garage-rock hope cemented their legacy early on with 2002’s essential Tell All Your Friends, but Adam... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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5. The Get Up Kids | "Mass Pike"

"Mass Pike" by The Get Up Kids from the album Red Letter Day (1999) The Kids may have been from Kansas City, but there was always a strong vein of Massachusetts... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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4. Dashboard Confessional | "Screaming Infidelities"

"Screaming Infidelities" by Dashboard Confessional from the album The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2000) When this record was released in 2000, it was emo’s Dylan-goes-electric moment in... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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3. Hawthorne Heights | "Ohio Is for Lovers"

"Ohio Is for Lovers" by Hawthorne Heights from the album The Silence in Black and White (2004) What could possibly make someone so sad that they would want to cut their... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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2. Brand New | "The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows"

"The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows" by Brand New from the album Deja Entendu (2003) There’s a reason we were all referring to Brand New’s Jesse Lacey as the... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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1. My Chemical Romance | "Helena"

"Helena" by My Chemical Romance from the album Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004) What’s the worst that we can say? No. 1 in our emo countdown isn’t about a jilted... READ MORE + WATCH THE VIDEO

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