Regional at Best, was released July 8, 2011 with the new lineup consisting of only Joseph and Dun. The album was accompanied by a free CD release show on the grounds of New Albany High School. In November 2011, they played a sold out show at Columbus' Newport Music Hall attracting the attention of a dozen record labels. Although many labels fought over the band, it was ultimately decided that they would sign to the Atlantic Records subsidiary label Fueled by Ramen.

During the same year, the duo also gave fans two free, otherwise unreleased, songs via their email newsletter: the original version of "House of Gold" and a single entitled "Two."

On February 11, 2012, the band released a music video on YouTube for an unreleased song called "Goner". "Goner" was rewritten and re-recorded for its release on Blurryface in 2015.