This throwdown had some heavy hitters and each band has a VERY dedicated fandom. But only one can win…and this time you’ll have to scroll down to the bottom to see who the winner is!!

ICYMI this boyband throwdown was between Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, O-Town and 98 Degrees!!

Backstreet Boys

AJ, Nick, Brian, Kevin and Howie! Those were some very important names during my formative years. Backstreet Boys came into being as I was just heading into high school – and their Millennium album was the soundtrack of my late teens – and is still on regular rotation at my house! I have seen the Backstreet Boys in concert numerous times – including a stadium concert in Buenos Aires Argentina in 1998 where I was interviewed on local television as a fan who was following them around on tour (I was not – I just happened to be there). I have so many favorite BSB songs its hard to pick a couple, but if I have to, I would say The One and Don’t Want You Back are top!

How does Backstreet Boys stack up?

Criteria	Details	Points
Longevity (core years)	Formed in 1996 the group stayed together until 2001. They returned as a five piece in 2011 and are still making new music today.	14
Number of albums	5	5
Billboard Top 100 (Total + 5 points for #1 )	18 top 100 singles with 6 top 10 hits. Hard to believe, but they never had a Billboard #1 and Quit Playing Games (With My Heart) was their top single peaking at #2.	18
Choreo-ability (1-10)	BSB have MOVES. I can tell you – seeing them live is an dance EXPERIENCE! And lets face it, there was a point in time where the dance to Everybody [Backstreets Back] was done all the time – and a lot of people still break out the moves when the song comes on!	8
Swoon/Scream-ability (1-5)	I have personally had my hearing permanently affected by the screaming crowds at a BSB concert, and can vouch for their screamability/swoon worthiness!	4
Trendy-ness (1-5)	Out of all the bands in this throwdown, I think BSB set the most trends. Because they were the first boy band in NA on the scene for this era, they had an advantage, but especially in the Millennium era, they had a style impact with their all white outfits and various pleather pieces.	4
Popular Vote (extra 5 points)	People love BSB – they won the popular vote from last week!	5
Total		58

O-Town

I loved O-Town from the moment I first watched Making the Band! Erik, Jacob, Trevor, Ashley and Ikaika….no wait….Dan eventually formed the reality band, and went on to sing some classic boy band tunes – including my favorite, All or Nothing and We Fit Together. I haven’t gotten into the revised band (sans Ashley) with their reunion, since I prefer to keep my early 2000 memories untarnished.

But how does O-Town stack up?

Criteria	Details	Points
Longevity (core years)	2000-2003 + 2014 – 2019	8
Number of albums	4	4
Billboard Top 100 (Total + 5 points for #1 )	3 top 100 singles with All or Nothing peaking at #3 in 2001	3
Choreo-ability (1-10)	They tried hard in their Liquid Dreams video – but I think they realized that dancing wasn’t really their strong suit.	5
Swoon/Scream-ability (1-5)	There are some hard core O-Town fans out there. And despite being the most manufactured band on the list, they managed to hit all the boy band bias‘ – bad boy Jacob, heartthrob Ashley, cute one Dan etc etc.	3
Trendy-ness (1-5)	No trends set by this band as far as I can tell…	2
Total		25

98 Degrees

98 Degrees is a bit different from the other boy bands in this throwdown – they are the only boy band to form organically, with the members coming together after they met through friends (except for the Lachey brothers who obviously knew each other), hit it off and decided to form a boy band. They were signed to a record label after hustling pretty hard in LA and working random jobs like delivering take out and landscaping to pay the bills. As well Jeff, Nick, Drew and Justin claim to write most of their material – which also differentiates them from many boy bands even today! I wasn’t the hugest fan of this band, but some of their songs like Invisible Man are pretty solid. However, I’ll be honest, most of my previous knowledge of this band (before writing this post) was based around watching Nick Lachey and his then wife, Jessica Simpson’s reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. But who DIDN’T watch that show?? It was crazy……

But how does 98 Degrees stack up?

Criteria	Details	Points
Longevity (core years)	1997-2003 + 2013	7
Number of albums	3	5
Billboard Top 100 (Total + 5 points for #1 ))	8 songs with 4 top 10s including one #1 hit, Thank God I Found You	13
Choreo-ability (1-10)	really no choreography or dance moves to speak of. The occasional coordinated sway or arm movements – but not comparable to BSB or NSYNC	4
Swoon/Scream-ability (1-5)	Medium screamability in my opinion. Lots of love songs here, but I think the band was kind of bland compared to its counterparts of the day. I think they owe a lot of their success to the reality shenanigans of Nick Lachey.	2.5
Trendy-ness (1-5)	They may have made sweater turtle necks and cargo jeans a bit more popular – I feel like they wore those a lot! But nothing really memorable here….	2.5
Total		34

NSYNC

As a pretty die-hard BSB fan, NSYNC was never my jam. And while they had some solid hits in their short amount of time, Lance, Joey, Chris and JC were more like back up dancers/vocals to Justin Timberlake (JT). Feel free to disagree, but other than the occasional JC verse in some songs, I think the band was pretty much formed around JT – which is also why none of the other members have done much since the band went on “hiatus” in 2002. There! I’ve laid my cards on the table when it comes to NSYNC. BUT, I am still going to evaluate fairly, despite my preconceived feelings about the band! And even with my feelings about the band, Bye Bye Bye and It’s Gonna Be Me have occasionally been played in my house.

How does NSYNC stack up?

Criteria	Details	Points
Longevity (core years)	1996 – 2002	6
Number of albums	3	3
Billboard Top 100 (Total + 5 points for #1 )	With only 3 albums, NSYNC had 12 Top 100 songs, 6 top 10 songs, and one #1 Hit with It’s Gonna Be Me.	17
Choreo-ability (1-10)	Also very good at dancing – especially in the No Strings Attached era with Bye Bye Bye and It’s Gonna Be Me. Even I tried to learn the Bye Bye Bye dance – despite being a die hard BSB fan – so that says something!	7
Swoon/Scream-ability (1-5)	Even I know this band rates high here. Mostly for JT and the swag he brings to the band. But NSYNC definitely had fans screaming around the world – even if I never went to one of their concerts!	4
Trendy-ness (1-5)	They definitely tried some things! Once again, I come back to their “front man” JT and his Canadian Tuxedo with Ms. Spears, and his uber frosted tips in the early days of the band. The trends may not have caught on, but points for trying!	3
Total		40

So, with all of that analysis, the WINNER is…….

Backstreet Boys	NSYNC	98 Degrees	O-Town
58	40	34	25

Let me know what you though of this throwdown in the comments below.

Next up – 2010 Boy Bands!!