<P> With the success of North American boybands like New Kids on the Block in East Asia, Japanese entertainment company Johnny & Associates formed SMAP in 1992 . The group enjoyed tremendous success, having sold over 35 million records . It paved the way for more Asian boy bands such as Arashi . </P> <P> In the early 1990s in North America, with New Kids on the Block's continued success and Color Me Badd also having success, boy bands became a continued staple of the Billboard charts . Continuing this success in the mid-1990s, most prominent boy bands were African American and had R&B and gospel elements, such as the group All - 4 - One that formed in 1993 and Boyz II Men that formed in 1988 . Boyz II Men are also the most successful boy band act on the U.S. Hot 100 as well as the Australian Singles Chart . Although they had success on the Billboard charts, they weren't marketed towards youth but more towards adults . It was not until 1997 and the change to pop oriented groups like Backstreet Boys, 98 Degrees, NSYNC, The Moffatts, and Hanson that boy bands exploded commercially and dominated the market in the United States . This late nineties era marked the height of boy band popularity in North America which hasn't been seen since . </P> <P> Arguably the most successful boy band manager from the U.S. was Lou Pearlman, who founded commercially successful acts such as the Backstreet Boys in 1993, NSYNC and LFO in 1995, O - Town in 2000, and US5 in 2005 . Backstreet Boys and NSYNC became the two biggest boy bands in the late 1990s until the early 2000s, and Backstreet Boys went on to become the best selling boy band in history with over 130 million records sold . </P> <P> In the late nineties in the UK, producer Simon Cowell (noted in the U.S. for the American Idol / X Factor franchise) is also known for having managed British boyband Five who were formed in 1997 and Irish boyband Westlife formed in 1998 . Westlife was created by Irishman Louis Walsh as a replacement for Boyzone and was initially managed by a former member of the band Ronan Keating . Westlife would eventually overtake Take That in number one's tally in the UK although Take That's overall UK sales are still higher . In 2012, the Official Charts Company revealed the biggest selling singles artists in British music chart history with Take That placed 15th overall and the highest selling boyband act (9.3 million), followed by Boyzone at 29 (7.1 million) and Westlife at 34 (6.8 million). Even though Cowell is known to have managed several successful boy bands, he is also infamous for passing on signing two of the biggest boybands to emerge from the 1990s and 2000s, Take That and Busted . </P>

Who is the best selling boy band of all time