The Best Boyband Debut Singles EVER.

A debut is the most important part of an artist's career, it has the power to make or break the future of your career so which boybands got it spot on? Let's find out!

Unlike the 'Boybands that Demand Your Attention' post, all these singles were AT LEAST a top ten hit in the country they have a record deal for and have a video available on YouTube for sampling purposes.

So what'd I put on my list? This is once again in no particular order whatsoever.

Sadly, BSB DO NOT qualify for this post, their debut single only came in at number sixty-nine in their home country, the US. Neither do NSYNC, they narrowly missed the top ten, their debut single coming in at number thirteen in the US. NKOTB did even worse, their debut single failed to even CHART in the US.

While I was doing the obligatory research I do for any special(except if it's Westlife, duh.), I stumbled upon Another Level. I remember watching their stuff on YT when I had just gotten addicted to Westlife but I didn't like their songs so I pushed them aside. So as I said, I stumbled upon them again a few days ago and the songs just had something so boyband but not boyband but still boyband about them(did that make any sense at all?).
So why is this one of the best debut singles ever? In addition to charting at number six on the UK charts, it's very standard boyband AND it's got an amazing hook with lyrics that teenage girls can scream and fantasize to. haha.

5ive were also Simon Cowell's doing, as his revenge for not signing the Spice Girls. He didn't beat the Spice Girls with them though(he did it with Westlife!), but he did make a British NSYNC!(their second single was a US Top 10 hit as well!)
Why is this such an amazing debut single? Simple, it's got a killer dance routine AND a hook. I really mean it when I say they're the British NSYNC. This single peaked at number ten in the UK.

Boyzone. They were the big Irish band before Westlife, and they had none other than Louis Walsh behind them. Love Me For A Reason came in at number two on the UK singles charts, and it started a long string of top five hits, six of them number one.
Do I still need to say why it's on the list? It's a freakin' top two single! Oh, and it's the standard boyband ballad, teenage girls will want to marry the guys singing this song.

A1 were one of Westlife's biggest rivals when boybands were a big deal in Britain, and this single came in at number six.
Come on! The video has some of the guys topless and in tight shirts, of course this is gonna be a hit! And it's got a very annoyingly amazing hook that's a very guilty pleasure. haha.

Now, D-Side were being tipped as the new Westlife for a while, but after two albums everything went downhill. They started out in ireland the standard Irish boyband way, a ballad debut but their first UK and Ireland single, they chose to go with a very Five-sounding song.
Heck, the music video even looks Five-like! It gave them a UK number nine single, not bad.

So EMD are a relatively new boyband, they debuted in 2007. Still, they're one of the few boybands to have their debut single top any major chart(theirs being Sweden.) and they now have three consecutive number one singles. Four more and they'll be tied with Westlife!
It's a cover. Very Westlife, except Westlife didn't debut with a cover. STILL, it's a ballad and it's a cover, I think they've learned something from a certain two Irish boybands who've had massive success from cover ballads. I was surprised though when I heard DANNY(yes, that Danny) is in this band. Whoa. I actually kinda like this song.

Ah yes, East 17, the rapping boyband who had this really sappy(but amazing) song top the UK charts later in their career. This song was a UK number ten single.
Now does anyone realize that the start sounds a lot like (Everybody) Backstreet's Back? Still, Tony Mortimer is goooood. They were the edgy boyband at the time, but this song is really growing on more.

Obviously One True Voice were put against the wrong girl band, Girls Aloud, one guy is just too tall and they don't LOOK like a boyband at all but you gotta hand it to them, they went the formulaic boyband way. Release a ballad first then slowly introduce the uptempos to your audience. They only lasted until their second single though.
Still, this was Christmas Number Two. A very good one at that. It probably would've been number one if they had replaced the tall guy(sorry, I know he can sing and all but boybands are half-aesthetics-based..) and weren't put up against the girls.

Now can anyone tell me why the crap V never made it big? Is it because they're so hard to Google or something 'coz their songs were amazing, their vocals were top class and they look like a 2005 version of Varsity Fanclub or V Factory.
Look! It was a number six single for heaven's sake, and they looked the part! I don't get it.

Blue. I love these guys, they're like a newer Another Level with less 'gang'+'make the girls scream' songs and more R&B. They might suck at a capella work but they had the songs to catapult them into stardom.
It actually even reminds me of the Another Level single, only that there's a dance routine to this and it charted at number four on the UK charts.

O-Town are one of the few American boybands I know that have had a US top ten debut single. Of course I think BSB and NSYNC deserved to have top ten singles at the very least but this is the closest you'll get.
It was number ten in the US and I find it very 2000, with band names and stars in the lyrics. The song is very BSB, and a lot of the song has a dance routine so check on that, they can dance.

Apologies, but I just HAVE to put Westlife in. It's not because I'm a huge fan or anything, but because they were the first boyband EVER to debut at the number one spot, making way for bands like EMD who've done the same.
Still, it's a very important song for the band, the fans and the industry. It was their debut, and it did extremely well. They went on to become the biggest boyband for the 21st century along with tons of other records. Behind all those achievements is a very simple formula, a formula that was perfected with the release of Swear It Again. Gosh, they look so young.

This list is incomplete. I might complete it or leave it as it is, just watch out! haha.

3 comments:

  1. Awww. Good ol' 5ive. I can't even tell you my fave song by them. They are all good. All though I think I'm most partial to "If Ya Gettin' Down" -- 1) because it was almost #1 but got beat out by Ricky Martin, 2) because it samples "Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" and it doesn't get more rockin' than that.

    It's sad that the main US contributor is O-Town. I can't stand those kids. And "Liquid Dreams" was just plain awful in a very dirty degrading kind of way. The rest of the album wasn't much better aside from the second single, "All Or Nothing" which wasn't half bad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah poor one true voice. they were royally shafted weren't they? Which was a shame because Daniel and Keith both had great voices and were proper fit :P

    And i truly tragically miss the lovely D-Side. My japanese limited edition albums of theirs are still treasured in my drawer years after i sold most my crap on ebay!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mel - Haha, I love 'Until the Time Is Through', it's so boyband ballad-y! haha. 'All or Nothing' was supposed to be for Westlife, believe it or not, but Simon didn't want it for them so it went to O-town.

    Paul - Yeah! With some adjustments they could've been even half as big as Girls Aloud or something, it's a shame.. and D-SIde were amazing!

    ReplyDelete

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