In 1996, the band released their debut album Pedigree Punk via independent label Headshock Records and shortly afterwards, Alex Siedenbiedel replaced Stone Grimstein on guitar, finalizing the current line-up.

That year they also won a band contest at the Bizarre Festival, which furthered their popularity in the German underground scene, leading to them getting signed by major label GUN Records (Sony BMG).

They went on to play their first co-headlining tour called "Ladies First, James Last" across Germany, Austria, Italy and the Netherlands, together with fellow German punk rock peers the Beatsteaks.

In 2001, the band released their fourth album Pocketrock, with which they achieved their breakthrough into the mainstream, mainly through their hit single "Whatever Happened to the 80s", which reached No.

The band released their fifth album Amplify the Good Times in May 2002, which achieved similar success with the singles "Saccharine Smile" and "Big Mouth".

In September, they released a cover version of "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister on an EP, which turned out to be one of the band's biggest hits, reaching No.

The band and "Saccharine Smile" would receive further international recognition when the song appeared in the acclaimed 2004 racing video game Burnout 3: Takedown.

"[1] The band released the greatest hits and b-side compilation album The Story So Far: Ibbtown Chronicles as a send-off to their major label.

After a short hiatus, they released their seventh album Coma Chameleon through their own label Solitary Man Records in March 2008.

The band played their first headlining tour in four years with Disco Ensemble in spring and American Steel and Fire in the Attic in autumn.

The Donots released their eighth studio album The Long Way Home in 2010, with the successful singles "Calling" and "Forever Ends Today".

That year, they supported Green Day on all German dates of their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, resulting in a major popularity boost for the band.

"The Long Way Home Tour" took place in autumn 2010 with Royal Republic as support, which culminated in their first "Grand Münster Slam" at Halle Münsterland, which was their biggest headlining show of their career at that point, playing in front of 3,000 people.

Their tenth studio album Karacho ("noise" or "crash") was released in February 2015 along with its lead single "Ich mach nicht mehr mit" ("I won't take part in this anymore").

Shortly after the tour, the Donots celebrated their 25th anniversary with a compilation called Silverhochzeit ("Silver marriage"), released in July 2019.

Also on that show, Donots premiered a new song, that would be included on their new album Heut ist ein guter Tag ("Today is a good day"), releasing on February 10.