NSYNC — "Tearin' Up My Heart"
NSYNC's European breakout—released in Germany in February 1997, it conquered the continent while America went about its business, only hitting US radio in June 1998, months after the self-titled debut finally arrived stateside. Written by Max Martin and Kristian Lundin at Cheiron Studios and originally pitched to the Backstreet Boys, the song introduced America to frosted-tip Justin Timberlake in a sweat-soaked warehouse video that somehow became iconic.
Released on February 10, 1997, in Germany, "Tearin' Up My Heart" was NSYNC's inaugural assault on European radio—a market they would come to dominate long before America took notice. Written by the Swedish pop architects Max Martin and Kristian Lundin, with Lundin producing, the track was carved out at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm in 1996, where it carried all the DNA of the Swedish hit machine. The song had originally been pitched to the Backstreet Boys—a bit of trivia that says everything about how the late-90s boy-band assembly line actually worked.
The song found massive traction in Europe, breaking NSYNC in Germany and beyond while the American market barely stirred. The self-titled NSYNC debut arrived stateside in March 1998, and when "Tearin' Up My Heart" finally went to US radio that June, it had already been a hit overseas for sixteen months. Under the chart rules of the era, the song was ineligible for the Hot 100 because it lacked a physical single; not until December 1998 did Billboard alter its rules to allow airplay-only songs to chart. By then, the moment had passed—when it finally registered on the Hot 100, the song peaked at only number 59, despite hitting number six on the Mainstream Top 40 chart in September 1998. The disparity revealed the truth about how quickly pop radio cycles through songs and moves on.
The music video—shot in the requisite sweat-soaked warehouse—presented the group dancing against intercut scenes of basketball and photo shoots, a visual template that would become standard for boy-band promotion. The video marked the American introduction to frosted-tip Justin Timberlake, the boyish focal point of the group whose future was already written in the way the camera found him. The song, though commercially middling in chart position, became a foundational entry in the NSYNC mythology—their true beginning, the moment before America paid attention.
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NSYNC — "It's Gonna Be Me"
NSYNC's only Billboard Hot 100 number one—a fact that still surprises people because "Bye Bye Bye" felt bigger. Released May 2000 as the second single from No Strings Attached, it rode the Cheiron formula to the top for two weeks that summer, then spawned one of the most baffling memes of the 2010s when "It's Gonna Be May" took over the internet every April 30.
Frosted Tips
Short hair gelled into stiff spikes with the tips bleached pale blond — the signature boy-band-era men's look. If a guy on TRL had it, so did half the boys at your school.
Backstreet Boys — "As Long as You Love Me"
The sweeping mid-tempo ballad that showcased the softer side of the BSB formula—all yearning strings and harmonies, shipped to radio without a physical single. Ineligible for the Hot 100 under 1990s chart rules, it still became a top-three hit across the world, and that folding-chair choreography in the music video became instantly iconic.