List of best-selling boy bands
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A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation.[2] Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances. South Korean boy bands usually also have designated rappers. Most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on-stage. They are similar in concept to their counterparts known as girl groups.
Some boy bands are formed on their own, but most are created by talent managers or record producers who hold auditions. The popularity of boy bands has peaked three times: first in the 1960s to '70s, with e.g. the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds; the second time during the late 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s, when acts such as New Kids on the Block, Take That, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Boyzone, Five, A1, O-Zone and Westlife dominated global pop charts; and the latest time in the 2010s up to the present, with the emergence of groups such as Big Time Rush, the Wanted, One Direction, and K-pop acts such as BTS and Seventeen.
Best-selling boy bands
[edit]The following is a list of the best-selling boy bands based on claimed sales figures of over 40 million records:
| Name | Nationality | Number of members | Years active | Genre | Studio albums | Claimed sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Backstreet Boys | United States | 5 → 4 → 5 | 1993–present (25 years) | Pop | 9 | 100 million[1] |
| New Kids on the Block | United States | 5 → 4 → 5 | 1984–1994, 2008–present (19 years) | Pop | 6 | 80 million[3] |
| The Osmonds | United States | 5 | 1958–1980 (22 years) | Pop | 22 | 77 million[4] |
| The Jackson 5 | United States | 5 → 6 → 4 | 1964–1990, 2001, 2012–2013 (29 years) | Pop/R&B | 18 | 75 million[5] |
| Bay City Rollers | United Kingdom | 5 | 1966–1981 (15 years) | Pop | 16 | 70 million[6] |
| *NSYNC | United States | 5 | 1995–2002 (7 years) | Pop | 4 | 70 million[7] |
| Menudo | Puerto Rico | 5 | 1977–1997, 2007–2009 (22 years) | Latin pop | 44 | 60 million[8] |
| Boyz II Men | United States | 5 → 4 → 3 | 1988–present (29 years) | R&B | 11 | 60 million[9] |
| Westlife | Ireland | 5 → 4 | 1998–2012 (14 years) | Pop | 10 | 50 million[10] |
| One Direction | United Kingdom/Ireland | 5 → 4 → 3 | 2010–2016 (6 years; on hiatus) | Pop | 5 | 50 million[11] |
| Take That | United Kingdom | 5 → 4 → 5 → 3 | 1990–1996 2005–present (18 years) | Pop | 8 | 45 million[12][13] |
See also
[edit]- List of best-selling girl groups
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of best-selling singles
- List of best-selling albums
- List of boy bands
References
[edit]- ^ a b Feeney, Katherine (6 January 2010). "Backstreet Boys are back". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
- ^ Hickey, Walt (4 June 2014). "Boy Bands: More Like Man Bands". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 7 June 2014.
- ^ "Interview: New Kids on the Block's Jordan Knight pictures life as a teenage boy band in 2012". Chicago Tribune. 26 January 2012. Archived from the original on 6 June 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
- ^ "An Osmond Family Tribute". Oprah.com. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ Idato, Michael (28 June 2018). "Joe Jackson, father of superstar Michael Jackson, dies aged 89". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
- ^ Picardie, Justine (26 March 1995). "'In the Rollers, I'd just say: I want that house. Then I'd move in'". The Independent. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ Newman, Melinda (14 November 2017). "*NSYNC And Epic Rights Join Together For Merchandise Line to Celebrate Band's 20th Anniversary: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
- ^ Tibbetts, Tammy (17 December 2007). "History of Menudo". Seventeen. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ Hill, Libby (6 January 2016). "Boyz II Men to play teen angels in Fox's 'Grease: Live'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ "What are Westlife doing now?". BBC. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
- ^ "One Direction Band's Louis Tomlinson Arrested In Airport Tussle". Agence France-Presse. 9 March 2018. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ "The X Factor's 5 biggest selling acts ever – Little Mix and One Direction battle for chart supremacy". Digital Spy. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- ^ "One Direction: The rise of the inescapable pop boy band". ABC Australia. 26 March 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2017.