Backstreet Boys

At the peak of a late-'90s commercial teen-pop surge, the Backstreet Boys rose above rival boy bands including *NSYNC and inspired numerous copycat acts. Their blend of R&B balladry, hip-hop beats, and dance-pop first captured listeners across Canada and Europe, with domestic breakthrough arriving only after mainstream pop dominated American radio and MTV. Initial singles “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” earned platinum status and reached the Top Four on the U.S. singles chart. Leveraging tight vocal harmonies and an effective mix of emotional ballads with energetic dance tracks, the quintet’s third album, 1999’s Millennium—anchored by the global smash “I Want It That Way”—debuted at number one and achieved multi-platinum certification worldwide, a success continued by the follow-up Black & Blue. During the 2000s the group distanced itself from the Max Martin sound that launched them, evolving alongside fans through adult-contemporary material on the reflective Never Gone (2005), Unbreakable (2007), and This Is Us (2009). Almost twenty years after their prior chart-topper, the five members returned with 2019’s DNA, reclaiming the top of the Billboard 200.

Core members Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, cousins from Lexington, Kentucky, began performing together as children in local church choirs and festivals, interpreting doo-wop and R&B in the vein of Boyz II Men. Orlando natives Howie Dorough and A.J. McLean, along with New York transplant Nick Carter, first connected through regional commercial, theater, and television auditions; the three bonded over classic soul and discovered they could harmonize effectively, forming a vocal trio. Richardson soon relocated to Orlando, working days as a Disney World tour guide while pursuing music at night. Introduced by a colleague to Dorough, Carter, and McLean, the four named their new group after a local flea market. Littrell later joined, completing the original lineup.

Guided by Louis J. Pearlman, who later built a teen-pop empire, the Backstreet Boys gained management from Donna and Johnny Wright—the latter having steered New Kids on the Block in the 1980s. The Wrights booked early tours and attracted A&R attention that led to a 1994 Jive Records contract. Producers Veit Renn and Tim Allen shaped the self-titled debut, which appeared across Europe in late 1995 and spent multiple weeks in the Top Ten throughout the Continent. In the U.K. the group earned Best Newcomers honors at the 1995 Smash Hits Awards on the strength of “We’ve Got It Goin’ On.” Following another European success with “I’ll Never Break Your Heart,” the album reached Canada, yet the same single barely registered on U.S. charts in 1995.

Merging prior international releases with fresh recordings—also featured on the Europe-only Backstreet’s Back—the American edition of Backstreet Boys ignited domestic momentum. “Quit Playin’ Games (With My Heart)” and “As Long as You Love Me” became major singles, the former attaining platinum and peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. Additional tracks “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back),” “I’ll Never Break Your Heart,” and “All I Have to Give” sustained radio presence into 1999; the first and last of these reached platinum Top Five status, ultimately driving fourteen million U.S. sales. Meanwhile, Littrell underwent surgery in early 1998 to repair a congenital heart defect, and the group pursued legal action against Pearlman and management over royalty disputes. Pearlman retained his managerial role after the rest of the team was dismissed, allowing work on the next album to proceed.

Millennium arrived in summer 1999, entering at number one with first-week shipments exceeding one million. Powered by “I Want It That Way,” “Larger Than Life,” “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely,” and “The One,” the set set multiple records for opening-week shipments and year-end sales. A Christmas album followed before year’s end, by which point Millennium had already moved twelve million copies domestically and more than forty million globally. Black & Blue appeared in fall 2000, yielding further Top 40 entries such as “The Call” and “Shape of My Heart” and duplicating its predecessor’s million-copy first week. After an extensive tour the members opted for a hiatus; the 2001 compilation The Hits: Chapter One included the new single “Drowning.” During the break Littrell became a father, Richardson performed on Broadway in Chicago, Carter issued the 2002 solo album Now or Never, Dorough supported the Dorough Lupus Foundation, and McLean entered rehab.

The quartet reconvened in 2004 and released Never Gone in June 2005, which earned platinum certification. The first new material in five years leaned into polished adult-contemporary territory with singles “Incomplete,” “Just Want You to Know,” and “I Still…” Richardson departed quietly after the subsequent world tour. The remaining four recorded Unbreakable, issued in 2007 as the first album without all original members and the first not to reach platinum. For This Is Us they recruited Ryan Tedder, a returning Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and T-Pain; after early leaks the group incorporated fan input before completing the project in mid-2009 for an October release, followed by a global tour covering Asia and Australia.

Departing Jive in 2011, the Backstreet Boys joined New Kids on the Block for a co-headlining run billed as NKOTBSB and released a joint greatest-hits collection that year. Richardson rejoined permanently in 2012 after occasional guest appearances, coinciding with the holiday single “It’s Christmas Time Again.” Marking their twentieth anniversary, the 2013 album In a World Like This—Richardson’s first with the group since Never Gone—supported an international tour and the 2015 documentary Backstreet Boys: Show ’Em What You’re Made Of. Screen credits also include the 2013 Seth Rogen comedy This Is the End and the 2016 zombie film Dead 7, written by Carter and starring Dorough, McLean, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, Jeff Timmons, and Erik-Michael Estrada. A Las Vegas residency titled Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life ran through 2018, the same year the group signed with RCA and unveiled “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart,” the lead single from ninth album DNA. Released early in 2019, DNA reaffirmed their signature harmonies and adult-pop direction while returning them to the top of the Billboard 200 for the first time since Black & Blue.

A tour in support of DNA extended into 2022, the year they issued their first holiday album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. The collection paired covers of “White Christmas” and “Last Christmas” with three original songs, reaching the Top 20 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and numerous European territories.