From East 17 to Westlife: the greatest boyband tracks ever

East 17 – Stay Another Day

It seems like the archetypal boyband Christmas ballad: bells chime, hearts yearn and the rich, tinglingly synthetic vocals are stacked as deep as 12 layers of artificial snow. But Stay is subtly subversive: there are no drums, for a start. Then there’s Tony Mortimer’s lyrics: aimed not at a paramour ducking the mistletoe, but the brother he lost to suicide. A majestic outlier not just by boyband standards, but also by British pop standards. Laura Snapes

*NSync – I Want You Back

Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen, Billie Holiday and the rest of modern music’s most sorrowful figures have nothing on early *NSync. On I Want You Back – like some nightmarish flipside to the Jackson 5’s exuberant namesake – tears and hair gel intermingle as the melancholy is magnified by the backings trying to dance out the pain. JC Chasez’s second verse, full of veiled infidelities and exposed heartache, is especially devastating. Ben Beaumont-Thomas

The Jackson 5 – Never Can Say Goodbye

Michael Jackson was 12 when he recorded this track, but somehow manages to convey the anguish of a 58-year-old divorcee in the death throes of a third marriage. What begins with quiet, resolute acceptance – wistful sighs of “girl”, glisteningly sweet Motown guitars and percussion – descends into one of the greatest expressions of regret and passion in pop history. No boyband since has come close to the class and clawing inevitability of this heartache anthem. Harriet Gibsone

Westlife – When You’re Looking Like That

Westlife’s hits were generally low-BPM swooshers written by a duo, Steve Mac and Wayne Hector, who would go on to deliver global smashes for Nicki Minaj and Ed Sheeran. It fell to songwriting supremo Max Martin to take the band as close as they would ever get to an all-out banger: this story of a pathetic man forced to live with his mistakes, eerily foreshadowing Bryan “call me Brian” McFadden’s subsequent decision to go solo. Peter Robinson

Bay City Rollers – Saturday Night

The Bay City Rollers were a paradigm for the grimmest aspects of boyband-dom: an exercise in cynicism and exploitation, the members fleeced and manipulated by a paedophile manager, the music anaemic. But just occasionally, almost by accident, they made a great single: Saturday Night, a crunchy bit of 50s-revival glam that the Ramones plundered not once but twice, is good enough to make you temporalily forget the band’s miserable story. Alexis Petridis

Shinee – Juliette

Although the tragic death of frontman Jonghyun last December shone a spotlight on K-pop princes Shinee, they were known internationally during happier times, too. Their 2009 single Juliette has the hallmarks of a band with global aspirations: lyrics on unrequited love are coated in slick R&B thanks to an instrumental borrowed from Disney star Corbin Bleu, creating something both saccharine and sentimental. Hannah J Davies

Backstreet Boys – The Call

Over a chaotic Max Martin production, the Backstreet Boys tear through an atypically roguish lyric about a night out that results in a slurred phone call home (“Going to a place nearby / gotta go!”) and some fumbling infidelity. The best bit isn’t the exhilarating chorus, the ludicrous key change or AJ McLean’s ad libs, it’s the fact that the “dun, dun, dun” bass sound is actually a sample of Howie D farting during a vocal harmony. Michael Cragg

Blue – All Rise

Few boyband hits can be described as either “haunting” or “understated”, but Blue’s debut is both. Only borderline danceable, it features accordion as lead instrument, and grants each member an impassioned verse apiece. The plot involves a courtroom and a two-timing girlfriend; the wronged boyfriend points an accusing finger and minor chord builds on minor chord to a crushing finale. Caroline Sullivan

5ive – Everybody Get Up

Built around the blaring riff from I Love Rock’n’Roll, this 1998 hit by Five (or 5ive, as they are more funkily known) romped through Beastie Boys-style brat-rap, maximalist pop and battle-cry stadium rock, referencing Luc Besson films and multiple pro-wrestlers along the way. A mercilessly entertaining antidote to insipid boyband fare that didn’t seem to know – or care – who its target audience was. Rachel Aroesti

Boyz II Men – The End of the Road

This R&B softie was 1992’s biggest hit in the US and soaked hankies everywhere, thanks to its schmaltzy verses, the oh-so-twinkly piano and those ultra-cheesy Barry-White-rivalling spoken-word bits. It’s so deftly done that it doesn’t have to rely on a key change for emotional effect. The pitch-perfect pay-off, a four-part a cappella harmony made (by producer Babyface) for eyes-shut, fists-clenched wallowing, is boy-banding at its best. Kate Hutchinson