They have released 5 LPs, including Diary, LP2, How it Feels to be Something On, Live, and the latest, The Rising Tide released June 20, 2000.

They have gone through numerous name changes including "Thief, Steal Me a Peach," "Flatland Spider," "One Day I Stopped Breathing," and finally "Sunny Day Real Estate." "Thief, Steal Me a Peach" and "Flatland Spider" were also the names of two of their EPs, and "One Day I Stopped Breathing" they still use as their official company name that holds the copyrights. They have been featured on many compilations, including the Batman: Forever soundtrack and wrote the title track to The Crow 2: City of Angels, but the deal fell through and the song did not make that soundtrack. It was renamed "Bucket of Chicken" and released as a B-side.

Jeremy Enigk, the lead singer/guitarist has also created his own solo album, titled "Return of the Frog Queen" and employed a 9-piece orchestra.

They were thrust into the charts in 1994 with the single "Seven" and later followed with "In Circles", both off the Diary album. After the release of LP2 (commonly referred to as the "Pink Album" due to its color) the band broke up with bassist Nate Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith forming Foo Fighters with Dave Grohl. The band later reformed minus Mendel who stayed with the Foo Fighters and released their return album, How it Feels to be Something On with single "Pillars". They have since gone through several bassists before deciding that they worked best as a trio and recorded The Rising Tide, their 4th studio LP (Live was a live recording) with Enigk playing bass as well as guitar and Hoerner playing bass on one song. "One" is the first single released off of this album. The new album has been called one of the best of 2000, and also the OK-Computer of 2000.