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Cover of A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out by Panic! at the Disco — Cover: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out

Song · Panic! at the Disco

“I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic! at the Disco

From the album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005)

“I Write Sins Not Tragedies” by Panic! at the Disco appears on 22 radio countdowns from 19 stations between 2006 and 2026. It was first released in 2005 on the album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. Its best result is #9 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2006. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #18 alternative song of 2006, #2,468 alternative song of all time and #324 of the '00s.

22countdowns

19stations

#9best position

0#1 finishes

2top 10 finishes

2006–2026years charted

Watch

Panic! At The Disco: I Write Sins Not Tragedies [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

Video from YouTube (Fueled By Ramen). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" led off A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, the 2005 debut from Panic! at the Disco, and it struts in like a vaudeville troupe that crashed a pop-punk show. The hook is a plucked cello figure played by session musician Heather Stebbins, with Samantha Bynes on violin, and Brendon Urie delivers Ryan Ross's wordy, barbed lyrics like a ringmaster who has seen every scandal twice. The language was salty enough that plenty of American stations demanded a cleaned-up edit.

Matt Squire produced, recorded and mixed it, and the theatrics paid off: the song climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Panic! wouldn't crack that chart's top 10 again until "High Hopes" in 2018. Its video later came in at No. 3 in a Billboard poll of the best clips of the 2000s, and Variety counted it among the best emo songs ever in 2022.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2006	9	KROQ Los Angeles, CA	KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2006	107
2006	19	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 2006	91
2006	17	Live 105 San Francisco, CA	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 2006	106
2006	37	Q101 Chicago, IL	Q101 Top 101 Songs of 2006	101
2006	9	WFNX Boston, MA	WFNX Top 100 Songs of 2006	100
2006	32	107.7 The End Seattle, WA	The End Top 107 Songs of 2006	107
2006	37	89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON	89X Top 89 Songs of 2006	89
2006	41	Y100 Philadelphia, PA	Y100 Top 88.5 Songs of 2006	89
2006	15	The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2006	97
2006	48	88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH	88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 88 Songs of 2006	88
2006	14	Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 2006	30
2006	21	102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany)	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2006	103
2006	47	Radio & Records United States (national airplay chart)	Radio & Records Top 100 Songs of 2006	100

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2006	417	KROQ	KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 2006)	500
2020	187	DC101	The DC101 Top 500	500
2021	26	107.7 The End	The End Obligatory Top 100 Alternative Songs of All Time (2021)	100
2022	748	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s	907
2022	60	X96	X96 Top 500 Alternative Songs of All Time	500
2023	52	ALT 104.5	ALT 104.5 Top 104 of ALT Time	104
2024	754	WXPN	WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024)	885
2025	836	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century	909
2026	306	101X	101X 500 (2026)	500

Charting alongside it in 2006

Best songs of 2006 →

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