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From the ashes of One Direction rose several new boy bands that were creatively formed — and informed — by the way internet fandom had shifted the pop scene. Why Don’t We are a perfect example of the type of post-1D boy band that emerged. All five members had built minor fan bases as viral […]

Du Jour might be the greatest fake boy band of all time. As the dreamboat foils to the titular group in 2001’s Josie & the Pussycats, Seth Green, Donald Faison, Alex Martin, and Breckin Meyer presented a surprisingly dark commentary of the pop industry at the time. “I always thought it was a ballsy thing […]

When the Boyz II Men quartet came on the scene with 1991’s Cooleyhighharmony, they presented themselves as a slick, modern version of Motown doo-wop groups, combining dapper outfits and charm with the sound of Philly soul and new jack swing. Unlike the white-centric groups that would follow later in the decade, Boyz II Men didn’t […]

When BTS released “Fake Love,” the lead single from Love Yourself: Tear, in May of 2018, they were already well on their way to being the global pop sensation that they are now. But “Fake Love” marked a new milestone for the seven-piece group, becoming their first Top 10 entry on the U.S. charts and […]

Six years after splitting up, the Jonas Brothers released their fifth full-length album, Happiness Begins, and redefined what it meant to be a freshly reunited boy band. Prior to their latest run, boy band reunions based around the release of new music weren’t usually guarantees for success. The magic formula for these specific types of […]

So often the biggest boy bands have broken first in the U.K. or Europe before crossing over to American audiences. But BBMak are a surprising exception. From the start, the British trio didn’t fit the pure vocal group boy band mold of the day (both Christian Burns and Stephen McNally played guitar), but their debut […]

The “boy band” category was always more narrowly defined than it should’ve been, and it seemed to be that way in order to brush aside acts that fit its most traditional definition in favor of “more serious” music. It’s to Brockhampton’s credit that they not only embraced the boy band label from the get-go, but […]

Leave it to MTV to create a mock boy band that actually came out with a decent hit: 2gether started off as a TV movie, and the film’s success spun-off an equally successful TV series of the same name. “U + Me = Us (Calculus)” was the band’s debut single in the film, but found […]

Long before Ed Sheeran songs became a wedding staple, there was All-4-One’s “I Swear.” Originally a solo country tune performed by John Michael Montgomery, the tender (if a little sappy) ballad became a mainstream hit in 1994 with the release of a pop version that featured the four-piece from California. The song peaked at Number […]

The debut single from 5 Seconds of Summer (a.k.a. 5SOS), “She Looks So Perfect” was an angsty anthemic track that sounded like a cross between Blink-182 and Avril Lavigne — if the artists somehow morphed into a group of four heartthrob Aussie pop-rockers. Though the group rose to fame after opening for One Direction, they […]

By the time “Euphoria” was released in 2018, BTS had already proven themselves to be masters of the mash-up, with hard-hitting tracks that combined hip-hop, EDM, and even elements of trap. But “Euphoria” was different — a straightforward pop song with a delicate, flowing melody, and introspective lyrics about holding onto love (or “euphoria”) in […]

Of course boy bands can be poignant, but it’s rare to get to see them flex with lyrics that go beyond romantic musings and heartbreak reflections. With “Spring Day,” BTS challenged that perception by analyzing grief and yearning in the form of a sweeping power ballad. The tender track is packed full of snow-y imagery […]

In 2010, Simon Cowell saw potential in five teenage boys who auditioned as solo artists on The X-Factor. Instead of advancing them in the competition separately, he decided to form a new group called One Direction. That would prove to be a fortuitous decision for all involved: The quintet came in third, but they were […]

The Fort Lauderdale trio Linear had a Top 40 hit in the summer of 1992 with the beach-party bop “TLC.” These boys did not pronounce their name “LIN-ear,” as in the basic geometry concept. No, they pronounced it “lin-EER,” as if to rhyme with “sheer,” “chandelier,” “Billy Shakespeare” or “song of the year.” Linear started […]

The 1D boys were never coy about their classic-rock fixation, but they took it all the way in “Best Song Ever,” with a brazen rip of the Who’s 1971 anthem “Baba O’Riley.” Except instead of a teenage wasteland, it’s a stadium-rocking ode to that girl who stole their heart like she already owned it. To […]

Mint Condition had the perfect teen romance in 1991 with the slow-dance swoon of “Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes”) — when they hit that soul chorus, it’s just agonizingly beautiful. How early Nineties is this song? The love interest in the video is wearing a Malcolm X cap. But this was just the beginning […]

In the early Nineties, New Edition might have been officially broken up, but they were still the most-influential group in pop music. Case in point: Hi-Five, who blew up in 1991 with the Number One smash “I Like the Way (The Kissing Game).” The Waco, Texas group was the South’s answer to New Edition, with […]

BTS have turned into the world’s biggest group, yet they did it all their way — by totally defying the clichés of how the music business is supposed to work. To conquer America, the K-Pop heroes didn’t compromise their sound or their ideas; they didn’t even bother trying a lame crossover hit in English. All […]

Emblem3 was a small blip of flashing light in the larger boy band universe, but their song “Chloe” hit home for any young woman who felt like she couldn’t quite compete with a beautiful sister (or even a best friend). Since Khloe Kardashian was the host during the band’s time on the U.S. version of […]

The Jonas Brothers’ self-titled second album may have catapulted them into mainstream fame, but it was the brothers’ third album, A Little Bit Longer, that cemented it, thanks in part to the LP’s lead single, “Burnin’ Up.” It was the trio’s highest-charting song — until the release of 2019’s “Sucker” — and it continues to […]

The alchemical magic created when boy bands join forces can be extraordinary. In 2019, Simon Cowell-formed Prettymuch teamed up with Latin group CNCO to release this bilingual banger. The song fuses together the groups’ signature sounds — reggaeton, pop, dance, and hip-hop — seamlessly. Lines like “She want that/I give that/She come back/Me necesita” were […]

As the Jonas Brothers were dominating the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon produced their own multi-talented boy band with Big Time Rush. While the majority of music released by the group coincided with their TV show, “Boyfriend” was their first single released to mainstream radio, and it was their most successful (although another of their songs, “Windows […]

The Raspberries kicked off their 1972 debut with the sexually charged “Go All the Way,” but they always knew that somehow, someday, things are gonna be so different. On “Let’s Pretend,” they cranked up the romance notch to the max, unleashing a dreamy power-pop ballad complete with Eric Carmen’s swooning vocals about the night lasting […]

Harlem prodigy Frankie Lymon may have been just 13 years old when he co-wrote “Why Do Fools Fall in Love,” but he had already lived a lifetime of heartbreak. “I’ve been falling in love since I was only five,” he informed Frankie Laine in 1956. “But I’ve been a fool about it since I was […]

The post-grunge hangover that loomed large in the mid-to-late Nineties was finally remedied in 1997, when three blonde brothers from Oklahoma dropped “MMMBop.” The anthem launched their career and ushered in a new era of pop, which paved the way for ‘NSync and Backstreet Boys. Don’t let the euphoric chorus fool you, though: “MMMBop” is […]

The premise was simple: a boy band with actual boys. “With the Backstreet Boys, you’re looking at nine-year-old girls worshipping 25-year-old-guys,” Dream Street’s co-creator, Louis Baldonieri, said in 2002. “It’s weird, if you think about it.” Dream Street — which featured a young Jesse McCartney — was poised to be larger-than-life when the New York […]

Country music’s answer to boy-band mania had more in common with ‘N Sync than Nashville. Formed in part from Making the Band contestants who didn’t end up in O-Town, the group was created by boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman; two members even grew up singing in a choir with Lance Bass. “I decided to leave O-Town […]

These Utah brothers became a global sensation, decades before the term “boy band” was invented. The Osmonds even had their own Saturday-morning cartoon show — the ultimate power move. Little bro Donny was the ladies’ choice, though big bros Alan, Merrill and Wayne wrote the grooviest songs. (Wayne also had sideburns that made him look […]

Innuendo is a crucial component of the boy band lingua franca, a way to add a little harmless titillation to songs primarily meant for teenagers. The Atlanta R&B quartet 112 may have been definitively grown and no longer beholden to any semblance of innocence by the time they released their signature hit “Peaches and Cream” […]

This instantly accessible single from K-Pop phenomenon Big Bang blew off many doors of American crossover with little effort on the band’s part. The track has been used in trailers for Pitch Perfect 2, its corresponding EP became the first K-Pop album to chart in the States and its music video is YouTube’s top-viewed K-pop […]

In 1995, a simple tale of kitchen-sink heartbreak was enough to elevate Take That from U.K. teenage obsession to national treasures to international stars. With the boys smartened up in Versace suits for the single cover, “Back For Good” signified a new maturity for the band, which disappointed those fond of TT’s campier disco origins […]

Arriving better polished and more formed compared to most of their X-Factor peers, Marvin, Oritsé, Aston and JB of JLS pumped some much-needed credibility into the sickly veins of the post-millennial U.K. boy band scene. Their smooth vocals and slick choreography suited R&B throbbers better than stool-based ballads, and their Hex Hector/Mac Quayle-penned debut single, […]

The Surrey, England trio Bros epitomized the late Eighties Young Conservative air of steely determination: money, power and success at any cost. Twins Matt and Luke Goss, along with schoolmate Craig Logan, prioritized fame and fashion over brotherly bonhomie (the increasingly sidelined Logan quit, then sued the brothers). The mean streak in their lyrics, their […]

Singer, songwriter, and svengali Dan Bălan has hinted that the Romanian smash “Dragostea Din Tei” (colloquially known as “the Numa Numa song”) is about losing his virginity “under the linden trees.” But any trace of folk melancholy is firmly pummeled out by robotic stop-start rhythms and a futuristic video that sees Bălan, Arsenie Todiraş and […]

London’s 5ive were the workhorses of the late-Nineties boyband glut, churning out eleven U.K. Top 10 hits with a higher banger-to-ballad quotient than their main competitors, the Backstreet Boys. Ritchie, Scott, J, Abz and Sean were put together after auditioning for Bob Herbert. Herbert had masterminded and nurtured the Spice Girls only for them to […]

Perhaps not as memorable or as danceable as other ‘N Sync hits, “It’s Gonna Be Me” nevertheless benefited from perfect timing. Released shortly after the start of ‘N Sync’s phenomenally successful No Strings Attached tour, it remains the group’s sole Hot 100 topping single. Written by Swedish hit-makers Max Martin, Andreas Carlsson and Rami Yacoub, […]

After multiple Jackson 5-esque hits ignited Osmondmania throughout much of the world, the quintet flipped the script with 1972’s frenzied Crazy Horses, an LP written entirely by the band. R&B strains remained on the title track — dig those crazy horn blasts — but the foundation is unrepentant hard rock made even more extreme by […]

This 1967 single from the Monkees, all tinkling piano and swelling woodwinds, served as the TV-borne foursome’s final chart-topper. Written by former Kingston Trio member John Stewart and featuring orchestration by trumpeter and arranger Shorty Rogers, the Davy Jones-crooned “Believer” is one of the band’s most luscious tunes. It received a second life during the […]

“Gone” was the boy band equivalent of Happy Days‘ Mork episode or Beverly Hills 90210‘s introduction of the Melrose Place apartment complex — a backdoor pilot that successfully spun the franchise off into new terrain. Justin Timberlake takes the lead on this spare breakup ballad that he and Wade Robson originally wrote for Michael Jackson. […]

In the early Aughts, no one had moves like B2K. “Some artists get so big that they stop dancing,” group member Raz-B said at the time. “But we totally respect ‘N Sync because they’re still dancing.” The foursome had a handful of hits, but none were quite as danceable as the self-descriptive “Bump, Bump, Bump.” […]

New Kids on the Block were the pop force to be reckoned with during 1989, but they didn’t reach the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 until September. The spare title track to their second album, the many-times-platinum Hangin’ Tough, was part statement of intent and part stadium-ready chant; it reached the top of […]

By the time New Edition released their second album, they had already weathered a storm in the form of a protracted court battle with former manager Maurice Starr. The group had graduated to MCA from Starr’s independent Streetwise label. Producers Vincent Brantley and Rick Timas were so convinced that “Cool” was a fit for the […]

This lighter-than-air bubblegum track was the second single from New Kids’ Hangin’ Tough, and it ably showed off Jordan Knight’s ability to embody an R&B crooner. It’s a bit of an improbable hit, if only because it has so much space — thumping bass and drums, synth hits only when absolutely necessary, Knight’s voice carrying […]

When Maurice Starr saw Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Bobby Brown, Ronnie DeVoe and Ralph Tresvant at a talent show in the Dorchester section of Boston, he had a feeling … that he had another Jackson 5 on his hands. Enter “Candy Girl,” an extra-sugary update of the Jacksons’ “ABC” that gave New Edition their first […]

The earliest days of the MTV era were also a golden age for reggae-tinged pop — The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” Blondie’s “The Tide Is High” and Stevie Wonder’s “Master Blaster (Jammin’)” were but a few of the island-inspired tracks staking out spots on radio. In 1982, the British five-piece Musical […]

Originally formed in 1971 by Calumet High School students on Chicago’s South Side, Brighter Side of Darkness briefly exploded after their manager Anna Preston added the young singer she was mentoring, 12-year-old Darryl Lamont. Lamont wails out through the chorus of the group’s sole hit, “Love Jones,” extravagant, symphonic soul in the manner of the […]

The late-Aughts boy band resurgence lacked its own New Edition until a clutch of Los Angeles-based producers put together Mindless Behavior, a singing and rapping foursome that wound up opening for Janet Jackson’s 2011 greatest hits tour. “My Girl” makes it easy to see why Jackson looked upon the group fondly: Lead vocalist Prodigy (who’s […]

The Puerto Rican boy band infamous for their ever-rotating cast, Menudo was already on their 17th album (and second self-titled offering) by the time “Hold Me” crossed over to American audiences. The fizzy, infatuated track, with lead vocals by Robi Rosa, peaked at Number 62 on the Hot 100 in 1985, and its video — […]

Sure, the soaring strings on the Jackson 5’s first Motown single skip along like carefree first-graders, and the thumping bassline is one of pop’s closest appropriations of the heartbeat. But the real hero of “I Want You Back” is Michael Jackson, then still a preteen but blessed with a voice and interpretive skill that could […]

It might not be the only pop song to use bad cell reception as a narrative hinge (shout out to Lady Gaga and Beck), but “The Call” is certainly one of the earliest — it was recorded in the days of monophonic ringtones and Snake. This Max Martin co-write from the Backstreet Boys’ Black & […]

“Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” was the first big U.S. hit for the Backstreet Boys, who were already causing pandemonium the world over before gaining a foothold here in 1997. “America just wasn’t ready for us,” Backstreet’s Howie Dorough told USA Today after “Games” finally hit it big Stateside. “Rap and Hootie and the […]

The Jackson 5 finished recording their debut album, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, in August of 1969. Before the month was over they were already back in the studio: Lead single “I Want You Back” seemed like a sure thing and Berry Gordy needed a follow-up ready. Hence “ABC,” the sound-alike single that would […]

New Edition’s Michael Bivins graduated from boy-band star to boy-band impresario when he discovered the Atlanta-based preteen quintet Another Bad Creation. “Iesha,” the group’s debut single, told the story of a playground attraction that turned into a Nintendo-and-cereal date. A pumping new jack swing beat, an awesomely meta sample of “Cool It Now” from Bivins’ […]

“‘I’ll Be There’ was our real breakthrough song,” Michael Jackson, who didn’t know what a harpsichord was until he heard the track’s demo, wrote in his memoir. “It was the one that said, ‘We’re here to stay.’” On the ballad, the young singer gives the most astounding performance of his preteens, skating and yelping and […]

The Wanted didn’t quite reach the saturation point of contemporaries One Direction, but the Eurodance hit “Glad You Came” makes a good case for the reasons they could have. They were a little edgier and made boy band songs cool for the club with a willingness to embrace a sexual innuendo when needed. “Glad You […]

“Story of My Life” changed the musical course of this glossy X-Factor crew. Their third album, 2013’s Midnight Memories, saw the boys not only co-writing their songs but exploring Def Leppard-style hair metal, Big Star-esque power pop and Mumford & Sons-infused folk rock. “Story of My Life” was the clear star, featuring an adult-pop guitar […]

What was the biggest selling record in the year of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Light My Fire” and “Respect”? The answer is a TV sitcom band’s take on a Neil Diamond song. “I’m a Believer” had reached the Monkees by way of Brill Building publisher Don Kirshner, who reached out to Diamond and producer Jeff Berry […]

The One Direction of “One Thing” seems like a distant memory compared to the slightly older boys now covered in tattoos and singing folk-rock. In 2012, the then-quintet were all 20 and under; clad in pristine suits, suspenders and turtlenecks; singing dreamy, bubblegum pop-rock about a girl they just couldn’t get off their minds. Co-writer […]

MTV, the network at the forefront of the TRL-era bubblegum movement, teamed up with boy band svengali Lou Pearlman in 2000 for a new way to corner the pop market: the reality competition. The first product of Making the Band was O-Town. The five-piece had a strong start with their self-titled debut but faded away […]

“There’s a little more edge to this album, a little more grit,” Justin Timberlake told Rolling Stone shortly before the release of 2000’s No Strings Attached, joking about the lawsuits that prevented its release. “We’re pissed off now — that’s what it is. We’re angry white boys who didn’t get our props.” ‘N Sync’s opening […]

“Pop” is an earworm of a pop tune about how there’s nothing wrong with pop tunes — “The thing you got to realize/What we’re doing is not a trend/We got the gift of melody/We gonna bring it ’til the end” — a perfect middle finger to anyone dismissing boy bands. Future-minded trance producer BT was […]

“Please Don’t Go Girl” made the Apollo Theater go wild when the New Kids played it at their Amateur Night debut, but the song — the first single from their second LP, Hangin’ Tough — dropped off the R&B chart after only three weeks. Producer Maurice Starr had been pushing the New Kids to black […]

Derek, Alan, Eric, Les, and Woody: the Bay City Rollers. The Scottish lads lit up the world with their tartan gladrags, Edinburgh accents, and awesomely gawky haircuts. They were the definitive 1970s boy band, from the gap between the Jackson 5 and New Edition. The Rollers wanted an American-sounding name, so they stuck a pin […]

Swedish songwriters Andreas Carlsson and Max Martin were still working on their English when they came up with the couplet “You are my fire/The one desire.” “The lyric doesn’t really mean anything,” the former would eventually admit. “The record company was like, ‘We need to bring in maybe another lyricist to help work on this.’” […]

“Sherlock” isn’t an entirely original song, but instead the combination of two separate tracks by Korean quintet SHINee. Mashing up two cuts off the band’s 2012 Sherlock EP — the bouncy hip-hopper “Clue” and the impressive vocal track “Note” — “Sherlock” was touted as Korea’s first “hybrid remix” single. As an already beloved, already chart-topping […]

“Mirotic” was one of the earliest singles from veteran K-pop act TVXQ! that established them as critically lauded recording artists in addition an existing role as a massive chart force. The fizzy electro-pop cut topped the charts in Japan, and helped the band’s Mirotic LP win at that year’s Golden Disc Awards, Korea’s closest equivalent […]

Seo Taiji and Boys are credited for helming the shiny, explosive, fabulously pre-fab Korean pop scene that we know today, kicking everything off with their game-changing 1992 debut single, “Nan Arayo (I Know).” The track blended then-trendy American new jack swing with Korean lyrics to tremendous success, spawning a wave of similarly sounding boy bands […]

The debut single for the six member Japanese boy band Kat-Tun was an out-of-the-gate success, owning the domestic charts and creating a frenzy that has yet to be matched for an act’s inaugural release. The schizophrenic tune, which jumps from four-on-the-floor dance beats to a heavy metal churn, began the J-pop band’s non-stop string of […]

Not only a crown jewel in the discography of famously in-sync K-pop septet Infinite, but “The Chaser” is also the masterpiece of Sweetune, the production duo renown for giving the genre a retro kick. Opening with a waterfall of Eighties synths, “The Chaser” brought their dramatic, synth-pop sound to an emotional apex via this unforgiving […]

The Stones to Take That’s Beatles, these four Walthamstow boys were tough as nails and looked like they hadn’t slept in weeks. Their debut, “House of Love,” is a typical example of their output: maximalist, fast-paced and topped with rousing messages of love and unity. Songwriter/rapper Tony Mortimer told M magazine he “put the band […]

One of the biggest boy band accidents occurred with the massive success of “Summer Girls” by LFO, a.k.a. Lyte Funkie Ones. The song sounds like an Adam Sandler parody of pop hits: a bunch of nonsensical phrases strung together with only Abercrombie & Fitch as its through-line. “‘Summer Girls’ was all about a summer on […]

“Hugs are overrated, just F.Y.I.,” Nick Jonas croons on “S.O.S.” after giving his ex-beau a high-five. The JoBros were as innocent as a pop group could get — like Osmonds-level innocent — grousing about conversations over instant message and text. However, the Disney-friendly, chaste Jonas Brothers were masters of a catchy pop-rock tune and toyed […]

The Max Martin-helmed “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” was one of the most defining tracks of the late Nineties pop explosion — huge, produced like a Michael Bay movie and a little more PG-13 than the New Kids were — a perfect statement of intent for a group (and movement) ready for total world domination. With “Everybody”‘s […]

Before Romeo Santos went on to sell out Yankee Stadium multiple nights in a row, the King of Bachata was selling out stadiums with his group Aventura. Their sophomore album, We Broke the Rules, did what Santos would master more than a decade later as a solo artist: infuse American R&B into bachata without watering […]

The Nick Lachey-led 98 Degrees always had a rough time keeping up with the spotlight-stealing Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync. But the Gerry and the Pacemakers of the last great boy band epoch saw them have a breakthrough with “Give Me Just One Night,” the group’s biggest hit. On it, the boys moved away from […]