The Backstreet Boys are an American vocal group, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The group consists of AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell.

They have sold over 100 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.

It started in high school when AJ Maclean, Nick Carter and Howie Dorough decided to start singing together after running into each other at auditions. A little later on Kevin Richardson and his cousin Brian Littrell joined the group after they moved to Florida from Kentucky. Even though all these guys were new to the boy band thing, they weren't new to performing. By age 12 Nick had already been the lead in The Phantom of the Opera, Howie and AJ had done Nickelodeon TV stuff and Brian had sung in his church choir.

The Backstreet Boys Make Their Mark

The Back Street Boy's success came quickly in Europe and by late 1996, with the release of Backstreet and the single Quit Playing Games (with my Heart), they had broken the charts in Canada and the US. The Backstreet Boys have never looked back, setting and breaking records left right and center. Backstreet Boys was seven times platinum and Millennium sold over 1.3 million copies in its first week. In 2000, Black and Blue debuted at number one on Billboard's 200 albums chart, selling 1.6 million copies in its first week out.

The group rose to fame with their debut international 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, which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their third studio album Millennium 1999 and its follow-up album, Black & Blue 2000.

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.

In 2012, the group announced that Richardson had rejoined them permanently. In the following year they celebrated their 20th anniversary and released their first independent album, In a World Like This 2013. The group also released their first documentary movie, titled Backstreet Boys: Show 'Em What You're Made Of in January 2015.

The Backstreet Boys are one of the few boy bands to have continued success long after their peak. Their 2019 album DNA debuted at number one, more than two decades after the group was formed. In doing so they have achieved numerous milestones, including the second longest gap between number one albums on the Billboard 200 chart, at over 19 years, only surpassed by Sir Paul McCartney's 36 year gap, and being the first boy band to top the U.S. charts in three different decades. The group received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 22, 2013.