The Sun Came Out includes only original material recorded specially for the album. For example, Radiohead has contributed the track The Ties That Bind Us which features vocal debut by the band’s drummer Phil Selway. The Cribs’ frontman Johnny Marr has recorded collaboration with Wilco titled Too Blue.

Radiohead have also released two new songs as an independent singles. Both of them represent solo attempts by the band’s members. The first one is The Eraser by Thom Yorke. The second composition is There Will Be Blood by Radiohead’s guitarist Jonny Greenwood – this track was written as a main theme of an Academy Award-winning 2007 drama film of the same name.