Love ’em or hate ’em, the very best boy bands have at all times had their place in pop historical past. The progenitors of the shape absolutely embody choreography-friendly vocal teams from the 60s and 70s, corresponding to Jackson 5 and The Osmonds, and the likes of New Children On The Block and Bros have been topping the transatlantic charts through the 80s, even earlier than the time period “boy band” was coined.
Boy bands as we all know them, nevertheless, went stratospheric through the 90s, with UK business moguls Nigel Martin-Smith, Simon Cowell, and Louis Walsh unleashing multi-million-selling protégés together with Take That, Boyzone and East 17. Within the US, in the meantime, you had Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and B2K, amongst many others. It’s these irresistibly catchy hitmakers we salute right here, as we rely down the very best boy bands of all time..
18: LFO
LFO weren’t a standard boy band, by any means, however their mega-hit “Summer Girls” definitely felt prefer it was revisiting among the tropes established by the greats. The track references New Children On The Block and New Version, additional solidifying their connection to the style.
Key monitor: Summer season Ladies
17: B2K
Like most boy bands of a sure degree, the teams of the late 90s and early 00s have been comparatively chaste. Not so for B2K, who offered R-rated pop songs that appealed to of us that had maybe aged out of boy band fandom.
Key monitor: Bump, Bump, Bump
16: The Osmonds
The Utah-based household group went by means of quite a lot of phases all through its existence (simply verify the unhinged “Crazy Horses”), however finally discovered its best success with tender rock and completely constructed pop tunes. Donny Osmond would take this formulation to even higher heights along with his sister Marie.
Key monitor: Love Me For A Cause
15: Massive Time Rush
Massive Time Rush have been a fictional boy band on a TV present of the identical identify whose songs have been so good, they merely turned one of many greatest boy bands of the early 2010s. With tunes like “Boyfriend” and “Big Time Rush” getting main play within the reveals themselves, followers have been already hungry for a BTR album by the point it will definitely dropped.
Key monitor: Boyfriend
14: Boyz II Males
One of many nice vocal teams of the 90s, Boyz II Males specialised within the ballad, with iconic tunes like “End of the Road,” “I’ll Make Love To You,” on “On Bended Knee.” Their funky facet shouldn’t be forgotten although: “Motownphilly” nonetheless hits as laborious because the day it was launched.
Key monitor: Finish of the Highway
13: 5 Seconds Of Summer season
One of many nice boy bands from Australia, 5 Seconds of Summer season are extra a standard band than most teams. They reached success primarily based off an early tour supporting One Path, however have since gone on to unbelievable heights with songs like “She Looks So Perfect” and “She’s Kinda Hot.”
Key monitor: Youngblood
12: New Version
Boston was an surprising hotbed of boy band exercise within the 80s and 90s, with New Version and New Children On The Block hailing from the town. Early hits from this group embody “Candy Girl,” “Is This The End,” and “Cool It Now,” however the group has had numerous reunions by means of the years, together with 1996’s Dwelling Once more.
Key monitor: Can You Stand The Rain
11: The Jackson 5
Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael. The boy band of Motown, the Jackson 5 have been a phenomenon, even by the Detroit label’s lofty requirements. The group, in fact, served as a launchpad for Michael Jackson, who would develop into the largest pop star of the 80s, however their catalogue is properly price discovering by itself.
Key monitor: I Need You Again
10: Jonas Brothers
The Disney Channel has been an incubator for loads of youngster stars, and that’s no totally different for Jonas Brothers, a bunch that rose to fame primarily based round excursions with the Disney-affiliated Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Ladies, in addition to writing the theme track to American Dragon: Jake Lengthy. The group disbanded in 2013, however returned in 2019 with “Sucker,” a tune that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100, a uncommon feat.
Key monitor: Sucker
09: Menudo
Menudo is remembered at present because the group that launched Ricky Martin, however for these rising up in Latin America all through the 70s and 80s, they have been merely the very best boy band of all time. The group launched in 1977 and continued on till 2002, with a couple of reunions going down after that preliminary run. All through their profession, they’ve combined and matched members, taking a modular strategy to the group’s lineup.
Key monitor: Claridad
08: One Path
Signed by Simon Cowell after their look on The X Issue, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Kinds, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik have been among the many greatest boy bands of the 2010s. The group made 5 albums throughout their run, every one seemingly greater than the final, till Malik left the band in 2015.
Key monitor: Drag Me Down
07: Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys have been successful from the start: Their self-titled debut album was a best-seller, with songs like “As Long As You Love Me” and “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart).” What’s maybe most particular concerning the group, although, is their longevity: They’re the one boy band to prime the U.S. album charts in three separate a long time, incomes that distinction when 2019’s DNA turned successful.
Key monitor: I Need It That Manner
06: Westlife
Among the finest boy bands of all time, Westlife’s studio albums arrived through the boy band explosion of the late 90s and early 00s. Coast to Coast is maybe their most interesting, boasting “My Love,” “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now),” and “When You’re Looking Like That.”
Key monitor: My Love
04: New Children on the Block
Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wooden have been among the many greatest boys of the late 80s and early 90s. Put collectively by Maurice Starr – who helped information New Version to early success – the group successfully started when Starr found the skills of rapper Donnie Wahlberg.
Key monitor: Step By Step
03: The Beatles
The early years of The Beatles most undoubtedly resembled a boy band, with the group getting chased by crazed followers, chart-topping singles, and adults complaining that the music they made wasn’t even music in any respect. What maybe makes The Beatles distinctive is that they reworked from a boy band into one thing else completely, occurring to even higher cultural ubiquity.
Key monitor: Love Me Do
02: BTS
It’s laborious to overstate the size of BTS‘s reputation. The group has mobilized followers on social media in a approach that has by no means been seen earlier than. The South Korean group, composed of seven members, is what most individuals take into consideration once they hear the phrase k-pop. What which means once you press play is an exhilarating concoction of R&B-inspired pop music.
Key monitor: Dynamite
01: *NSYNC
By way of pure gross sales, Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Lance Bass have been the largest boy band of the late 90s and early 00s. Their second album, No Strings Connected was large, promoting greater than two million information in a single week.
Key monitor: Bye Bye Bye
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