Backstreet Boys

Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group and pop boy band 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 debut album, Backstreet Boys (1996). In the following year, they released their second album Backstreet's Back (1997), along with their self-titled U.S. 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. The group then released two albums as a quartet: Unbreakable (2007) and This Is Us (2009).

Richardson rejoined the group in 2012. In 2013, they celebrated their 20th anniversary and released their first independent album, In a World Like This. Their follow-up album DNA (2019) debuted at number one, nineteen years after they last topped the chart in 2000. They also became the first boy band to top the U.S. album charts in three decades. In 2022, they released their first Christmas album, A Very Backstreet Christmas. They celebrated their 30th anniversary on April 20, 2023. In July 2025, they released Millennium 2.0, a reissued and remastered version of their third album, Millennium, with additional B-sides, live tracks, and demos.

The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them the best-selling boy band of all time and 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, 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. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013 (2 days after their 20th anniversary). They released a documentary film, titled Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of in January 2015. In March 2017, the group began a concert residency in Las Vegas that lasted two years, titled Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life. In July 2025, they launched their second Las Vegas residency, Into the Millennium, at the Sphere.

Howie Dorough and AJ McLean were natives of Orlando, Florida, who met each other through a mutual vocal coach and later discovered Nick Carter through auditions. The three, realizing that they could harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, both from Lexington, Kentucky, sang in local church choirs and festivals when they were children. Richardson moved to Orlando in 1990, where he worked at Walt Disney World and concentrated on music at night.

In 1992, Lou Pearlman placed an ad in the Orlando Sentinel to create a vocal group with a "New Kids on the Block" look with a "Boyz II Men Sound". McLean, who was the first to audition for Pearlman in his living room, became the group's first member. Between late 1992 and March 1993, Pearlman held open casting calls and hundreds of young performers auditioned at his blimp hangar in Kissimmee, Florida. Ultimately, Carter, Dorough, and Richardson were selected after meeting Pearlman's expectations. Littrell flew from Kentucky to Orlando to formally join the group on April 20, 1993, a day after receiving a phone call from Richardson about it. Thurs, April 20 became their anniversary date. Pearlman decided to call them Backstreet Boys, after Orlando's Backstreet Market, an outdoor flea market near International Drive which was also a teen hangout.

The Backstreet Boys performed their first show at SeaWorld Orlando on May 8, 1993. The group then continued to perform in various venues during summer 1993, from shopping malls, restaurants, to a high-profile charity gala in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. With a change in management in the fall, they began to tour schools across the U.S., building a fan base while trying to get a record deal. Mercury Records nearly signed them in 1993, but the deal fell through at the last minute because longtime Mercury recording artist John Mellencamp threatened to leave the label if they got into the boy band business. In February 1994, Jeff Fenster (then senior VP A&R Zomba/JIVE Records) and David Renzer (then senior VP/GM of Zomba Music Publishing) saw the group performing at a high school in Cleveland and signed them to their first record deal.

At the end of December 1994, the group flew to Sweden to record with Max Martin and Denniz PoP, including "We've Got It Goin' On," which ended up being their first single and completed their work in January 1995. "We've Got It Goin' On" was sent to radio in August 1995 and released as a physical single on September 5, 1995. In North America, Mix 96 in Montreal broke the group after the programmers heard it on the radio in Europe. The song was a minor success in the U.S., peaking at only No. 69 by December 1995, but it entered the top 5 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. European success sent them there on a summer tour and shifted their promotion to mainly being done in Europe.