Song · The All-American Rejects
“Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects
From the album Move Along (2005)
“Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects appears on 7 radio countdowns from 7 stations between 2005 and 2026. It was first released in 2005 on the album Move Along. Its best result is #35 on the 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 40 Songs of 2005. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #183 alternative song of 2005 and #5,353 alternative song of all time.
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"Dirty Little Secret" kicked off the All-American Rejects' second album, Move Along, as its lead single in 2005, and the scandal in the title is pure invention. Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler wrote it while both were settled into steady relationships back in their small town, so with no real-life wreckage to mine, Ritter just dreamed some up.
It began as nothing but an acoustic guitar and a voice, and the band put off building it out until they were days from the studio; one jam session later, the arrangement was nailed down inside an hour. Howard Benson produced, Mike Plotnikoff recorded and Chris Lord-Alge mixed, and what came out is glossy, hook-first pop rock that, by Wheeler's own admission, the band couldn't get out of their heads either.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 100 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge Toronto, ON | CFNY Top 102 Songs of 2005 | 102 |
| 2005 | 67 (tie) | WBER Rochester, NY | WBER Listener Countdown 2005 | 230 |
| 2005 | 35 | 88.3 The Sting Cleveland, OH | 88.3 The Sting WBWC Top 40 Songs of 2005 | 40 |
| 2005 | 44 | X96 Salt Lake City, UT | X96 Top 50 Songs of 2005 | 50 |
| 2005 | 254 | ModernRock.com Online | ModernRock.com Top 400 Songs of 2005 | 400 |
| 2006 | 60 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 2006 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 255 | 101X | 101X 500 (2026) | 500 |
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