The Best Boy Bands: 18 Pop Groups You Need To Hear
From New Kids On The Block to The Osmonds and B2K to BTS, we count down the biggest and best.
Love ’em or hate ’em, the best boy bands have always had their place in pop history. The progenitors of the form surely include choreography-friendly vocal groups from the 60s and 70s, such as Jackson 5 and The Osmonds, and the likes of New Kids On The Block and Bros were topping the transatlantic charts during the 80s, even before the term “boy band” was coined.
Boy bands as we know them, however, went stratospheric during the 90s, with UK industry moguls Nigel Martin-Smith, Simon Cowell, and Louis Walsh unleashing multi-million-selling protégés including Take That, Boyzone and East 17. In the US, meanwhile, you had Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and B2K, among many others. It’s these irresistibly catchy hitmakers we salute here, as we count down the best boy bands of all time..
18: LFO
LFO weren’t a traditional boy band, by any means, but their mega-hit “Summer Girls” certainly felt like it was revisiting some of the tropes established by the greats. The song references New Kids On The Block and New Edition, further solidifying their connection to the genre.
Key track: Summer Girls
17: B2K
Like most boy bands of a certain level, the groups of the late 90s and early 00s were relatively chaste. Not so for B2K, who provided R-rated pop songs that appealed to folks that had perhaps aged out of boy band fandom.
Key track: Bump, Bump, Bump
16: The Osmonds
The Utah-based family group went through a number of phases throughout its existence (just check the unhinged “Crazy Horses”), but eventually found its greatest success with soft rock and perfectly constructed pop tunes. Donny Osmond would take this formula to even greater heights with his sister Marie.
Key track: Love Me For A Reason
15: Big Time Rush
Big Time Rush were a fictional boy band on a TV show of the same name whose songs were so good, they simply became one of the biggest boy bands of the early 2010s. With tunes like “Boyfriend” and “Big Time Rush” getting major play in the shows themselves, fans were already hungry for a BTR album by the time it eventually dropped.
Key track: Boyfriend
14: Boyz II Men
One of the great vocal groups of the 90s, Boyz II Men specialized in the ballad, with iconic tunes like “End of the Road,” “I’ll Make Love To You,” on “On Bended Knee.” Their funky side should not be forgotten though: “Motownphilly” still hits as hard as the day it was released.
Key track: End of the Road
13: 5 Seconds Of Summer
One of the great boy bands from Australia, 5 Seconds of Summer are more a traditional band than most groups. They reached success based off an early tour supporting One Direction, but have since gone on to incredible heights with songs like “She Looks So Perfect” and “She’s Kinda Hot.”
Key track: Youngblood
12: New Edition
Boston was an unexpected hotbed of boy band activity in the 80s and 90s, with New Edition and New Kids On The Block hailing from the city. Early hits from this group include “Candy Girl,” “Is This The End,” and “Cool It Now,” but the group has had various reunions through the years, including 1996’s Home Again.
Key track: Can You Stand The Rain
11: The Jackson 5
Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Michael. The boy band of Motown, the Jackson 5 were a phenomenon, even by the Detroit label’s lofty standards. The group, of course, served as a launchpad for Michael Jackson, who would become the biggest pop star of the 80s, but their catalogue is well worth discovering on its own.
Key track: I Want You Back
10: Jonas Brothers
The Disney Channel has been an incubator for plenty of child stars, and that’s no different for Jonas Brothers, a group that rose to fame based around tours with the Disney-affiliated Aly & AJ and The Cheetah Girls, as well as writing the theme song to American Dragon: Jake Long. The group disbanded in 2013, but returned in 2019 with “Sucker,” a tune that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a rare feat.
Key track: Sucker
09: Menudo
Menudo is remembered today as the group that launched Ricky Martin, but for those growing up in Latin America throughout the 70s and 80s, they were simply the best boy band of all time. The group launched in 1977 and continued on until 2002, with a few reunions taking place after that initial run. Throughout their career, they’ve mixed and matched members, taking a modular approach to the group’s lineup.
Key track: Claridad
08: One Direction
Signed by Simon Cowell after their appearance on The X Factor, Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and Zayn Malik were among the biggest boy bands of the 2010s. The group made five albums during their run, each one seemingly bigger than the last, until Malik left the band in 2015.
Key track: Drag Me Down
07: Backstreet Boys
The Backstreet Boys were a hit from the beginning: 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 perhaps most special about the group, though, is their longevity: They’re the only boy band to top the U.S. album charts in three separate decades, earning that distinction when 2019’s DNA became a hit.
Key track: I Want It That Way
06: Westlife
One of the best boy bands of all time, Westlife’s studio albums arrived during the boy band explosion of the late 90s and early 00s. Coast to Coast is perhaps their finest, boasting “My Love,” “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now),” and “When You’re Looking Like That.”
Key track: My Love
04: New Kids on the Block
Jonathan Knight, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood were among the biggest boys of the late 80s and early 90s. Put together by Maurice Starr – who helped guide New Edition to early success – the group effectively began when Starr discovered the talents of rapper Donnie Wahlberg.
Key track: Step By Step
03: The Beatles
The early years of The Beatles most definitely resembled a boy band, with the group getting chased by crazed fans, chart-topping singles, and adults complaining that the music they made wasn’t even music at all. What perhaps makes The Beatles unique is that they transformed from a boy band into something else entirely, going on to even greater cultural ubiquity.
Key track: Love Me Do
02: BTS
It’s hard to overstate the scale of BTS‘s popularity. The group has mobilized fans on social media in a way that has never been seen before. The South Korean group, composed of seven members, is what most people think about when they hear the phrase k-pop. What that means when you press play is a thrilling concoction of R&B-inspired pop music.
Key track: Dynamite
01: *NSYNC
In terms of pure sales, Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick, and Lance Bass were the biggest boy band of the late 90s and early 00s. Their second album, No Strings Attached was massive, selling more than two million records in a single week.
Key track: Bye Bye Bye
Did we miss your favorite boy band? Let us know in the comments below.
Irem Alici
November 5, 2021 at 10:53 am
where is BLUE?!!!
Bryan
November 29, 2021 at 8:59 pm
The BLUE
Anh Thong
December 23, 2021 at 5:02 am
Blue
Eva
January 3, 2022 at 2:56 pm
I came here for Blue
cindy thomas
January 7, 2022 at 12:25 am
Where’s Blue??? They were Fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sharon
January 23, 2022 at 1:28 pm
Why isn’t TAKE THAT on this list?!!!!!
Thien Di Pham
January 24, 2022 at 6:42 pm
I would definitely remove BTS for Blue
Fabiana
February 15, 2022 at 6:42 pm
Five are the best of all,according to me
Rams
February 17, 2022 at 1:00 pm
Boyzone
Bil
February 24, 2022 at 2:39 am
BOYZONE…HOW COME U LEFT BOYZONE, THE MOFFATS, BLUE, FIVE… COME ON… U SHOULD DO UR RESEARCH BEFORE U WRITE THIS ARTICLE MAN…
VO TRAN NHAT TAN
March 21, 2022 at 5:35 am
Where is Blue? Boyzone?
Ana Teresa Paulo
August 11, 2022 at 8:50 am
A minha Boysband preferida é nada mais nada menos do que os Ingleses Blue! As Músicas deles fazem sentir boas vibrações.
Tscha
August 15, 2022 at 10:41 am
How come BLUE wasn’t included in this list ?!?!?!
Steph
October 15, 2022 at 5:37 am
Where are The Beach Boys?
Christine
October 28, 2022 at 5:15 pm
I commented for Blue, but why aren’t they in The Best Boy Bands?
BTS and NOT BLUE?? SERIOUSLY?!
December 5, 2022 at 2:59 pm
How could you not include Blue and having BTS in the list instead.. Those AREN’T even legends and can not even been compared to what or do even touch/reach what Blue was a part of one of the best pop music era’s boy bands ever existed! This post needs an instand edit if you wanna call yourselves a musically educated website.
Lauretta
December 8, 2022 at 5:51 pm
Where are Blue and Take That?
Serious omissions.
90s guy
December 8, 2022 at 7:46 pm
98 degrees
Jessica
December 15, 2022 at 2:57 pm
WTH where is Blue
Waleska
December 19, 2022 at 8:04 pm
The Monkees
Blue
dariel25
May 9, 2023 at 7:20 pm
im sorry. who is BLUE? im sorry, but those guys only popular in America…not whole world.
reddasalright
May 9, 2023 at 7:21 pm
s
rimo
June 17, 2023 at 10:26 am
where is linkin park? it should be in the first position
Neha Batool
July 4, 2023 at 5:35 am
BTS IS THE BEST THEY SHOULD BE ON THE TOP NOT ON 2ND PLACE.
Susan
November 17, 2023 at 4:55 pm
5SOS is NOT a boy band.
mikey g
January 3, 2024 at 10:56 pm
WHY ARE THE BOYZONE NOT ON HERE
Carr
February 9, 2024 at 6:53 am
The Beatles were *NEVER* a typical uncool, talentless manufactured by a TV or music producer non song writing non musicians boy band!They really should be taken off this list and The Monkees the true first manufactured boy band should be on here instead!
On the Reddit Beatles fan community, a member,UnderDogPants so rightly said in the discussion of debunking the stupid ridiculous nonsense myth calling The Beatles a ”boy band”, He said, They were an early rock and roll band.Their influences were Buddy Holly,Chuck Berry,Little Richard and Elvis.They developed naturally and were all childhood friends.
They crafted their sound by playing thousands of hours over multiple years before becoming famous. People use the term boy band wrongly when referring to them.They were literally boys when they started out and he says in parenthesis (as are many bands) but that’s where the similarities end.Yes they appealed to girls. But they also appealed to guys. It was always about the music, and the raw sex appeal of four great looking musicians on stage in black leather and said in parenthesis ( and later tailored suits) singing and playing their hearts out was just too da*n intoxicating. Remember, it has always been said that women wanted the Beatles and men wanted to BE The Beatles. Their appeal was much different from what a boy band offers. He then said I know I was there.
https://rebed.redditmedia.com/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reddit.com%2Fr%2Fbeatles%2Fcomments%2Fj3ofjl%2Fpeople_who_say_the_beatles_were_a_boy_band_are%2Fg7eel9e%2F
Dme
April 28, 2024 at 11:35 pm
Who the Heck is BLUE!!!Never heard of them. but BTS is #1 all the way. Not even the western boy groups can compare…..