Top 10 Most Successful Boy Bands Ever

Only one can be number one. The Backstreet Boys were put together in Orlando in 1993 by Lou Pearlman, who placed an ad for a group with the look of New Kids on the Block and the sound of Boyz II Men. Brian Littrell came in last, called by his cousin Kevin Richardson. Estimates range from a hundred to 130 million records, making them by far the best-selling boy band ever. 1999's Millennium remains the best-selling boy band album in the world. Pearlman, meanwhile, was found to be running a pyramid scheme and died in prison in 2016, while the five members played a residency at the Sphere in Las Vegas in 2025.

New Kids on the Block was put together in Boston in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr, who had inherited the idea from his earlier group New Edition. It was one of the first times the model worked: auditions, a producer with a plan and five teenagers with different types. They sold about eighty million records worldwide. In 1990, they were the highest-paid entertainers in the world, according to Forbes. Actor Mark Wahlberg was originally a member but left just before it broke out, while his brother Donnie has always remained. They have been active again since 2008, with their own residency in Las Vegas in 2025.

'N Sync was founded in Orlando in 1995 by Lou Pearlman, the same man behind the Backstreet Boys. With I Want You Back, Bye Bye Bye and It's Gonna Be Me they became one of the best-selling acts in the world, in a period when a record was still really a record. Their album No Strings Attached sold 2.4 million copies in one week in the United States in 2000. That record stood for fifteen years, until Adele broke it in 2015 with 25. The group went on hiatus in 2002 and never really came back. Justin Timberlake became one of the biggest solo stars the genre has ever produced.

One Direction was founded in 2010 when five boys who had been individually rejected for The X Factor were combined. They came third in the program and went on to sell around seventy million records. Four of their five albums reached the top spot on the American Billboard 200. That figure is the same as that of 'N Sync, but One Direction counts streams that did not yet exist in 2000. Zayn Malik left in 2015, after which the group went on an indefinite hiatus in 2016. In October 2024, Liam Payne died at the age of 31 after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires.

Boyz II Men was formed in 1988 at an art school in Philadelphia and is more often called an R&B group than a boy band. With sixty million records sold and four Grammys, they are the most successful male singing group in American history. Their chart records were absurd. End of the Road was at number one for thirteen weeks, I'll Make Love to You for fourteen, and One Sweet Day with Mariah Carey for sixteen. The latter record lasted for 24 years, until Old Town Road broke it in 2019.

Westlife was formed in 1998 by Louis Walsh, with Ronan Keating as co-manager and mentor. The original line-up consisted of Nicky Byrne, Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan and Brian McFadden. They sold considerably more than Take That, mainly because they did excellently in Asia. With fourteen number one hits, they share third place of all time in Great Britain with Cliff Richard, behind Elvis Presley and The Beatles. Their first seven singles all went to number one, good for a Guinness record. In the Netherlands, their Billy Joel cover Uptown Girl broke through. The group went on hiatus in 2012 and returned in 2018.

Take That was put together in Manchester in the late 1980s by Nigel Martin-Smith and made their debut in 1991. In their first period they scored eight UK number one hits. When Robbie Williams left in 1995 and the group folded a year later, British helplines opened special telephone numbers for upset fans. The return in 2006 is seen as one of the most successful comebacks in pop history, partly because they allowed themselves to grow with their audience instead of repeating the old formula. The count now stands at twelve British number one singles. Since the departure of Jason Orange in 2014, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald have continued as a trio.

Boyzone was put together in Dublin in 1993 by manager Louis Walsh, who would also go on to launch Westlife. The group relied entirely on ballads and light pop songs, with Love Me for a Reason, Words and No Matter What as its biggest successes. In Great Britain they had six number one singles. They retired in 2000 and returned in 2007. Two years later, Stephen Gately died at the age of 33 from a heart defect, a blow from which the group never fully recovered. In the meantime, Ronan Keating built up a solo career that became commercially bigger than Boyzone itself ever was.

Five, also written as 5ive, was created in 1997 from an advertisement by Bob and Chris Herbert, the same managers who had previously put together the Spice Girls. Simon Cowell then signed the group to RCA. It was an assembly line product in its purest form: five boys, each with a well-defined character, conceived on paper before a single note had been sung. That formula worked immediately. Slam Dunk (Da Funk) was followed by eleven consecutive British top ten hits, including the number one hits Keep On Movin' and We Will Rock You. In September 2001, the group disbanded under the pressure of the touring schedule. Nowadays a trio is touring again under the same name.

East 17 was founded in 1992 in Walthamstow, the London district with postcode E17 from which the group takes its name. They were rougher than the competition, used rap influences and sang about topics that other boy bands ignored. Tony Mortimer wrote almost everything himself, which was unusual at the time. Stay Another Day became the British Christmas number one of 1994 and is still a permanent part of December there. They also reached the Netherlands with It's Alright. Between 1992 and 1998 they scored a British top ten hit twelve times, although they lagged far behind arch-rival Take That in terms of sales.