Backstreet Boys

This article is about the vocal group. For other uses, see Backstreet Boys (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Blackstreet, Backstreet Girls, or Back Street Girls.

Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. From left: AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell.
Backstreet Boys at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles, California. From left: AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell.
Background information
OriginOrlando, Florida, U.S.
Genres
Years active1993–present
Labels
SpinoffsNKOTBSB
Members
Websitebackstreetboys.com

Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB)[3] are an American vocal group and boy band[4] consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.

The group rose to fame with their international debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). In the following year, they released their second international album Backstreet's Back (1997), along with their self-titled U.S. debut album, Backstreet Boys (1997), which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their third studio album Millennium (1999), anchored by the worldwide hit "I Want It That Way", and its follow-up album, Black & Blue (2000). They also released a greatest hits album, The Hits – Chapter One (2001). After a two-year hiatus, they regrouped and released a comeback album, Never Gone (2005). After the conclusion of the Never Gone Tour in 2006, Richardson left the group to pursue other interests.[5] The group then released two albums as a quartet: Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).

Richardson permanently rejoined the group in 2012.[6] In the following year, they celebrated their 20th[7] anniversary and released their first independent album, In a World Like This. Their follow-up album DNA (2019) debuted at number one, more than two decades after the group formed and 19 years after they last topped in 2000. They also became the first boy band to top the U.S. album charts in three different decades.[8] In 2022, they released their first Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. They celebrated their 30th anniversary on April 20, 2023.

The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide,[9] making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They are the first group since Led Zeppelin to have their first ten albums reach the top 10 on the Billboard 200,[8] and the only boy band to do so. The albums Backstreet Boys and Millennium were both certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), making them one of the few bands to have multiple diamond albums.[10] The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013 (2 days after their 20th anniversary).[11] They released a documentary film, titled Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of in January 2015.[12] In March 2017, the group began a concert residency in Las Vegas that lasted two years, titled Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life.

  1. ^ "Teen pop acts ready for summer tours". Billboard. February 16, 2001. Archived from the original on August 19, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  2. ^ "Backstreet Boys - Biography, Albums, Streaming Links". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 26, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  3. ^ "Backstreet Boys". Archived from the original on February 22, 2011. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference vocal group was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Kevin Richardson Quits Backstreet Boys". MTV. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011. Retrieved November 10, 2011.
  6. ^ "Backstreet Boys Welcome Back Kevin Richardson". MTV. Archived from the original on June 22, 2012. Retrieved July 12, 2012.
  7. ^ Tailor, Leena (May 16, 2019). "'Millennium' at 20: Collaborators Explain How the Backstreet Boys Album Pushed Technology Limits and Saved Relationships". Billboard. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Backstreet Boys Score First No. 1 Album in Nearly 20 Years on Billboard 200 Chart With 'DNA'". Billboard. February 3, 2019. Archived from the original on December 4, 2019. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
  9. ^ Vartan, Kristin (April 9, 2019). "Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter on Grammy Museum Exhibit & Renewed Success: 'We're Just Living in the Moment'". Billboard. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  10. ^ McIntyre, Hugh. "There Are Now 22 Artists With More Than One Diamond Album". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  11. ^ "Backstreet Boys Get Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame". People. April 22, 2012. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved April 22, 2012.
  12. ^ Garibaldi, Christina (December 2, 2014). "Backstreet Boys Are Back With A New Movie: Find Out When It Hits Theaters". MTV. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved December 3, 2014.