The 20 Biggest Boy Bands of All Time
When you think of boy bands, you probably reminisce on the 1990s. However, all-male groups have been around since as early as the ‘60s.
Many consider The Beatles to be the first boy band, and the success of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison led to the creation of The Monkees, The Osmonds, The Jackson 5 and many other groups throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. By the time the ‘80s rolled around, fans were introduced to Menudo and New Kids on the Block, but the following decade arguably changed the game forever.
In the ‘90s, NKOTB continued to take off but ultimately stepped aside as more pop-oriented groups began to dominate the market. The Backstreet Boys became household names in 1996, followed by ’NSync in 1998 and LFO in 1999.
There was a resurgence of boy bands in the early 2010s as One Direction, The Wanted and others hit the scene. Around the same time, New Kids on the Block and the Backstreet Boys briefly joined forces to form the supergroup NKOTBSB, which released one compilation album and toured North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Boy bands also became incredibly popular in Asia, where groups such as BTS and EXO amassed massive fan bases.
To date, the Backstreet Boys remain the most popular boy band of all time in terms of sales. One Direction also broke numerous records during their six-year run, which ended in 2016 as Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne went solo (Zayn Malik had already left the group a year prior).
While blasting hits like “Bye Bye Bye,” “What Makes You Beautiful” and “I Want It That Way,” scroll through the gallery below for more on the 20 biggest boy bands of all time!
After nabbing third place on The X Factor UK's seventh season, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson caught their rising star. Their debut American single, "What Makes You Beautiful," went Platinum, and their first U.S. tour sold out within hours. They went on to release four albums as a fivesome: 2011's Up All Night, 2012's Take Me Home, 2013's Midnight Memories and 2014's Four. After Malik left the group in 2015, One Direction treated fans to one last album, Made in the A.M., before going solo.
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Adding to the U.S.'s Irish-British invasion, Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuiness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes hit the ground running a year prior to One Direction making it big. Their most popular hit in the U.S., "Glad You Came," peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group released three albums and had their own reality show, The Wanted Life, before taking a hiatus in 2014.
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Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas and Nick Jonas hit the scene in 2006 with their debut, It’s About Time, which they followed up with 2007’s Jonas Brothers. In 2008, they starred in the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock and released a third album, A Little Bit Longer. After their fourth effort, 2009’s Lines, Vines and Trying Times, got mixed reviews, they went on hiatus and eventually split over “creative differences.” The brothers reunited in 2019, when they released their comeback record, Happiness Begins, and went back on the road.
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The Florida-based group rose to fame in 1996 with their self-titled album and have worked together ever since, releasing 1999’s Millennium, 2000’s Black & Blue, 2005’s Never Gone, 2007’s Unbreakable, 2009’s This Is Us, 2013’s In a World Like This and 2019’s DNA. AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson (who left the band in 2006 before returning in 2012) and Brian Littrell have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them the most successful boy band of all time. They received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.
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Sharing the same home base and record label as the Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and JC Chasez formed ‘NSync (an acronym for the last letter of each member's first name, with Lance being called "Lansten") in 1995. After releasing game-changers like 2000’s No Strings Attached, they ended their run as a boy band in 2006. ‘NSync has since reunited at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2019 Coachella music festival, where they performed with Ariana Grande.
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From 1996 through 2002, Nick Lachey, Justin Jeffre, Jeff Timmons and Drew Lachey released four albums and a dozen singles. They reunited in 2012 for what was supposed to be a one-off performance but yielded another album, 2013’s 2.0, and a successful tour.
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As the stars of MTV's first season of Making the Band, Jacob Underwood, Ashley Parker Angel, Erik-Michael Estrada, Trevor Penick and Dan Miller formed O-Town in 2000. Their first single, "Liquid Dreams,” went gold while their ballad "All or Nothing" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for several awards. They called it quits in 2003, but reunited a decade later without Parker Angel. Since getting the band back together, they’ve dropped two more albums: 2014’s Lines & Circles and 2019’s The O.T.W.N. Album.
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The Massachusetts-based threesome (Devin Lima, Brad Fischetti and Rich Cronin) rose to fame with their popular hit "Summer Girls" in 1999. After going on a hiatus in 2003 and an attempt at making a comeback in June 2009, they announced that they were done for good. Cronin and Lima both died from cancer, in 2010 and 2018, respectively. As the last remaining member, Fischetti began touring with O-Town in 2019.
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Brothers Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson and Zac Hanson put Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the map with their 1997 hit single "MMMBop" off their debut album, Middle of Nowhere. They’ve since released six more albums and celebrated their 25th anniversary on Good Morning America in 2017.
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The U.K. version of 'NSync and the Backstreet Boys took the form of five Irishmen: Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating, Stephen Gately and Shane Lynch. After six years together, the group took a break in 2000 but reunited for a Children in Need charity concert in 2007. They continued to tour until 2009, the year that Gately died from a pulmonary oedema. As a foursome, the remaining members of Boyzone released four more albums. They are rumored to reunite again in 2024 for their 30th anniversary.
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Simon Cowell signed the Irish quintet (Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan and Brian McFadden) in 1998. Despite their huge success in the U.K., only one of their songs, "Swear It Again," made the charts in the U.S. McFadden left the group in 2004, and the remaining four held a farewell tour in 2012. However, they reunited in 2018 and released their album Spectrum the following year.
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After trying to make it in the country world in the early ‘90s, Canadian brothers Scott Moffatt, Clint Moffatt, Bob Moffatt and Dave Moffatt shifted gears to pop-rock. On 1998's Chapter I: A New Beginning, the brothers started to play their own instruments. They released one more album, 200’s Submodalities, before disbanding. The Moffatts reunited a few times in the 2010s before making a comeback in 2018 with their EP Chapter II.
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This fivesome (Donnie Wahlberg, Danny Wood, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight) have been "hangin' tough" since 1984. The group's career can be broken down into two legs: 1984 to 1994 and 2008 to present day. During that 14-year hiatus, Jordan and McIntyre pursued solo careers while Wahlberg (whose younger brother is Mark Wahlberg) dabbled in acting. NKOTB toured with the Backstreet Boys from 2011 to 2012 and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2014.
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Latin superstar Ricky Martin got his start in this Spanish teen pop group, which rose to fame in the U.S. in the mid-1980s. (Martin replaced one of the original members, Ricky Melendez, in 1984 and stayed on through 1989.) During Martin's time with the group, he was joined by members Charlie Masso, Johnny Lozada, Robi "Draco" Rosa and Roy Rossello. They disbanded in 2009.
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Just like how Ricky Martin's launching point was with Menudo, Robbie Williams got his start with this hot ’90s Brit group. After he left in 1995, original members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange and Mark Owen continued to release albums and toured the world. They have continued to have a successful run and even performed at the 2012 Olympic Games closing ceremony in London.
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Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman, Wanya Morris, Michael McCary and Marc Nelson are known for their soulful a capella songs and for being one of the most successful R&B groups to date. Four years after breaking onto the scene in 1991 with their single "Motownphilly," they released their most memorable duet, "One Sweet Day" with Mariah Carey. They have been active in the music industry since the 1980s, most recently releasing an album titled Under the Streetlight in 2017.
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The late Whitney Houston's ex-husband, Bobby Brown, got his start with this group that formed in 1978 and was famous for iconic hits like "Candy Girl" and "Cool It Now." In 2011, Brown and original members Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill made their comeback on a multi-city reunion tour. They were honored with a Walk of Fame star in 2017, the same year that BET aired a docuseries, The New Edition Story, about their career.
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Launching in the middle of The Beatles' career in 1966, Micky Dolenz, Peter Tork, Michael Nesmith and Davy Jones (who was the only Brit in the all-American group) starred on their eponymous NBC comedy until 1968. Post-TV career, the group continued to record albums and go on tour with various lineups. After Jones and Tork’s deaths in 2012 and 2019, respectively, Dolenz and Nesmith have continued to keep The Monkees’ legacy alive.
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Original members Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlon Jackson and Michael Jackson were the voices behind iconic hits "I Want You Back" and "ABC." During their on-and-off career, which started in 1964, they sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 — 13 years after Michael left to pursue his solo career. The King of Pop died in 2009.
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