When people think of boy bands, they likely don’t think of the Grammys. There is a perception that the Grammys dislike them since those groups often don’t receive the same level of peer respect or critical praise. But oversimplifying the Grammys’ relationship with boy bands as negative is not necessarily fair to the awards or the bands. For the purposes of this article, we’ll define boy bands as pop-adjacent groups of typically young male singers. Technically you could classify any all-male group as a boy band, but no one is really thinking of, say, Foo Fighters when they think of their favorite boy bands, right?
Even by that definition, though, it’s hard to quantify exactly what a boy band was before, say, the 1990s. Groups like The Beatles, The Jackson 5, and New Edition were technically boy bands, although that term wasn’t widely used back then. And these acts were respected by their peers, as evidenced by their Grammy track records. The Beatles were the most successful, winning big awards like Best New Artist and Album of the Year (“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”) and overall accumulating four wins before their disbandment, as well as three subsequent wins in the ’90s for archival work. Jackson 5 and New Edition went Grammy-less during their runs, but both received nominations in R&B categories, proving they were taken somewhat seriously despite their young age.
While New Edition can arguably be considered the first true boy band as we know them today, perhaps the first example to illustrate how the Recording Academy was a bit ambivalent about boy bands was New Kids on the Block. Despite an extensive hit list, including three number-one singles, the band only ever received one nomination, and it wasn’t even for the music itself: it was Best Music Video (Long Form) for “Hangin’ Tough” in 1990. Their breakout album of the same name racked up five top-10 hits, yet they couldn’t net any pop nominations or even a measly Best New Artist bid. Neither could British-based boy bands of that era, like Take That and Boyzone, although their limited success in the US easily explains their Grammy absences.
After a while the Grammys did start to warm up to boy bands, though. Color Me Badd, Hanson, Boyz II Men, and All-4-One all received multiple nominations throughout the ’90s, with the last two even winning. And not only did these artists get nominations, some of them also got recognition in the big four categories including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.
In the latter years of the millennium came Backstreet Boys and NSYNC, who each received a handful of Grammy nominations from the late ’90s to the early 2000s. Backstreet Boys even made history as the first proper boy band to get an Album of the Year nomination, for their classic record “Millenium.” Backstreet and NSYNC got Record of the Year nominations too, for “I Want It That Way” (which also received a Song of the Year nom) and “Bye Bye Bye,” respectively. Still, neither group won anything, just like Hanson. If you were a boy band in the ’90s and early 2000s, your best bet to win was being an R&B adjacent group like Boyz II Men and All-4-One were.
After NSYNC and Backstreet faded, there was a quiet period for boy bands. The next to make it to the Grammys were the Jonas Brothers, who netted a Best New Artist nomination in 2009. Unfortunately for them, they were nominated alongside Adele, Duffy, Lady A, and Jazmine Sullivan, all eventual Grammy winners, which meant that the sibling trio should’ve just been happy to be included, especially because it would be 10 years before another boy band would be nominated.
In the 2010s came a boy band boom, with artists like One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, and The Wanted coming on the scene. All of them were snubbed by the Grammys, though, despite massive hits throughout their careers. Perhaps the most egregious snub was One Direction, who you would’ve expected to at least get a Best New Artist nomination, or a citation in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. Their last album, “Made in the A.M.,” also seemed like a possible Best Pop Vocal Album contender in a wide-open year when the nominees included Demi Lovato’s “Confident” and Sia’s mostly forgotten “This is Acting.” Still, the band missed.
A boy band wouldn’t be nominated again until the 2019 Grammys. And surprisingly, it was a band that already had accumulated many in the past: Backstreet Boys, who scored a surprise nomination for “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. That nomination broke their tie with NSYNC for the most nominations for a pop boy band, bringing their total to nine overall, which was the second most for a proper boy band after Boyz II Men. (If we count The Beatles, who got 23 nominations, then Boyz II Men would be second and Backstreet third.)
Just a year after that Backstreet Boys nomination, the Jonas Brothers were invited back to the Grammys with a Best Pop Duo/Group Performance nom for their comeback hit “Sucker.” That has actually proven to be a good category for boy bands to get nominations of late, since it has included at least one every year since Backstreet’s bid. “Sucker” came in 2020, and that was followed by three BTS hits: “Dynamite” in 2021, “Butter” in 2022, and “My Universe” (with Coldplay) in 2023.
BTS, who are on hiatus now, also branched out beyond the pop field, getting a Best Music Video nomination for “Yet to Come” and an Album of the Year nomination as a featured artist on Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres.” Still, no wins, so we might still be far from the day another boy band takes a golden gramophone home.
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Grammy odds for Album of the Year
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