Named after a flea market · Orlando · 1993
Lou Pearlman named them after Orlando’s Backstreet Market, a flea market near International Drive where teenagers hung out. So this page is a stall: dig the crate of CDs, and every disc is a place you can go.
Snapshots: Lyavelino, 3 May 2001 and 20 November 2000, CC BY 3.0. No free photograph of the band from 1993–1999 exists, so the nearest dated ones are shown.
The crate · 10 cases · 9 on the map
It sold 1,134,000 copies in its first week in the US, a record at the time.
Pull a case up by its spine, open the lid and press the hub to free the disc. Each disc is a real place, with its sources and how to visit.
Pull a case.
Then open the lid. Then press the hub.
Ten cases in the crate. Pull one up by its spine.
0 of 10 discs out of their cases.
Lexington · Orlando · April–May 1993
19–20 April 1993 · Lexington, Kentucky (the city, not a house)
On 19 April 1993 Brian auditioned over the phone, and the next day he was on a flight to Orlando.
The cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell both come from Lexington, and sang in local church choirs. The band counts 20 April 1993 as the day it became a band.
A city: start downtown on Main Street. No family homes are named or mapped here.
Near International Drive · named, not mapped
Lou Pearlman, the group’s first manager, named them after Orlando’s Backstreet Market. It was an outdoor flea market near International Drive that had become a teen hangout.
Pearlman wanted a group like New Kids on the Block, and found singers through an advert in the Orlando Sentinel.
The Ringer calls him a blimp magnate. The first album came out on Jive with his Trans Continental Records. In 1998 Brian Littrell sued, saying Pearlman and his company had taken about $10 million while the band got $300,000.
The market has gone and nobody has published where it stood, so it is named, not mapped. The photograph is International Drive in 2011.
8 May 1993 · 7007 Sea World Drive, Orlando, Florida
On 8 May 1993 the five gave their first big show together here, to a crowd of more than 3,000.
The band dates its own start to 20 April 1993, eighteen days before. Florida mall and charity shows came next.
A ticketed theme park. Hours change by the day, so check its calendar before you go.
Orlando, Florida · See the site
The park where they played their first big show, at 7007 Sea World Drive. Its Christmas Celebration runs 6 November 2026 to 4 January 2027. Tickets and hours on its site.
Plan a visitKungsholmen · Stockholm · 1994–2000
Fridhemsplan, Kungsholmen, Stockholm (no street number published)
At the end of December 1994 the group flew to Sweden to record with Max Martin and Denniz Pop. Denniz Pop and Tom Talomaa started Cheiron. The Polar Music Prize puts the studio at Fridhemsplan, on Kungsholmen.
Their 1996 debut album was partly recorded at Cheiron. Denniz Pop gave Martin Sandberg his artist name: Max Martin.
I Want It That Way, written by Max Martin and Andreas Carlsson, was recorded at Cheiron. Carlsson remembers making Millennium tracks there, and the group pushing back on some of the songs at first.
Denniz Pop died of cancer on 30 August 1998, aged 35. Cheiron closed in 2000, and Talomaa and Martin went on as Maratone.
The studio has gone and its door is not published, so the pin is the square. Fridhemsplan is a T-bana stop.
Stockholm, Sweden
Live marketplace results for music tours of Stockholm, the city of Cheiron and Max Martin. Check each itinerary for its stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursLos Angeles · New York · April–May 1999
copies of Millennium in its first week in the US, from 18 May 1999. A record at the time.
1–2 April 1999 · Los Angeles International Airport, Westchester, Los Angeles
The I Want It That Way video was filmed at LAX on 1 and 2 April 1999, directed by Wayne Isham.
The Tom Bradley International Terminal is in many of its shots. The scenes with the plane and the fans were filmed in one of the airport’s hangars.
A working terminal: you see it if you fly through it. The hangars are not open to visitors. The photograph is the terminal after its rebuild.
16 and 18 May 1999 · 1515 Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan
On Sunday 16 May 1999 fans packed the studio and clogged the pavements for a two-hour TRL special about Millennium.
TRL’s studio at 1515 Broadway was a fishbowl: teenagers stood below hoping to glimpse their stars. Thousands came to see them or NSYNC, and Times Square was closed.
Millennium came out on 18 May 1999, and they were on TRL again that day. Through most of 1998, 1999 and 2000, videos by the Backstreet Boys or NSYNC held the top of the countdown.
MTV announced the end of TRL on 15 September 2008.
Look up from Broadway in Times Square. The countdown ended in 2008.
Midtown Manhattan
Live marketplace results for Times Square walking tours, past 1515 Broadway. Check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare tours
London · the California desert · Hollywood · 2012–2013
2012–2013 · Bombay Beach, Imperial County, California
In July 2012 the five, with Kevin Richardson back, moved into a house together in London and began new songs with the producer Martin Terefe.
On Good Morning America that month they said they were recording in London: their first studio work as five since 2005.
The cover of In a World Like This was photographed at Bombay Beach by Tyler Shields.
A small desert town where people live: keep to the public roads and leave the houses be.
22 April 2013 · 7072 Hollywood Boulevard
Their star was unveiled at 11:30 a.m. on 22 April 2013, two days after their 20th anniversary.
It was the 2,495th star, in the Recording category, next to Boyz II Men.
The Chamber called them the best-selling boy band in history, with more than 130 million albums sold.
Set in the pavement near the Live Nation building. Free, at any hour.
Hollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Walk of Fame tours. Their star is at 7072 Hollywood Boulevard; check each itinerary for where it goes.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursThe Las Vegas Strip · 2017–2026
Larger Than Life · 2017–2019: Planet Hollywood: Larger Than Life.
shows at Planet Hollywood, 1 March 2017 to 27 April 2019
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, 3667 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Larger Than Life, their first residency, opened at the Zappos Theater, formerly the AXIS, on 1 March 2017.
It began as nine test shows and kept being extended: 80 shows, to 27 April 2019. Planet Hollywood opened the balcony for a headliner for the first time, making the room 2,000 seats bigger than for Jennifer Lopez or Britney Spears.
A DJ and ten dancers were on stage with them.
A Strip resort: walk in from Las Vegas Boulevard. Other acts play the theatre now.
Las Vegas Strip · See the site
The resort that sells “Sphere at The Venetian” packages, a short walk from the Sphere. Its page showed offers but no nightly rates. Pictured: Sphere.
See roomsWhere it is now
SeaWorld and International Drive are next to each other in south-west Orlando. In Los Angeles, LAX and Hollywood Boulevard are a drive apart; Bombay Beach is a day trip into the desert. On the Las Vegas Strip, Planet Hollywood and Sphere are a walk apart. Stockholm and Times Square stand on their own.
9 places you can visit, from Lexington to the Las Vegas Strip. The Backstreet Market has gone and its site is not known, so it is named, not mapped.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A ticketed theme park. Hours change by the day, so check its calendar before you go.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A city: start downtown on Main Street. No family homes are named or mapped here.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Look up from Broadway in Times Square. The countdown ended in 2008.
7007 Sea World Drive, Orlando, Florida
On 8 May 1993 the five gave their first big show together here, to a crowd of more than 3,000.
A ticketed theme park. Hours change by the day, so check its calendar before you go.
Lexington, Kentucky (the city, not a house)
The cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell both come from Lexington, and sang in local church choirs.
A city: start downtown on Main Street. No family homes are named or mapped here.
1515 Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan
TRL’s studio at 1515 Broadway was a fishbowl: teenagers stood below hoping to glimpse their stars.
Look up from Broadway in Times Square. The countdown ended in 2008.
Stay
A resort on the Strip that sells Sphere packages.
Las Vegas Strip · See the site
The resort that sells “Sphere at The Venetian” packages, a short walk from the Sphere. Its page showed offers but no nightly rates. Pictured: Sphere.
See roomsGo there
SeaWorld Orlando, and walks in Hollywood, Stockholm and Times Square.
Orlando, Florida · See the site
The park where they played their first big show, at 7007 Sea World Drive. Its Christmas Celebration runs 6 November 2026 to 4 January 2027. Tickets and hours on its site.
Plan a visitHollywood, Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Walk of Fame tours. Their star is at 7072 Hollywood Boulevard; check each itinerary for where it goes.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursStockholm, Sweden
Live marketplace results for music tours of Stockholm, the city of Cheiron and Max Martin. Check each itinerary for its stops.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursMidtown Manhattan
Live marketplace results for Times Square walking tours, past 1515 Broadway. Check each itinerary.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
The band headlines the F1 afterparty on 21 November 2026.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
The story of Cheiron, the debut and Millennium.
John Seabrook
John Seabrook on how pop hits are made, with Cheiron, Denniz Pop and Max Martin.
Find the bookBackstreet Boys · CD, Jive, 1999
Released 18 May 1999; 1,134,000 copies in its first US week.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyBackstreet Boys · CD, Jive, 1996
The 1996 debut, partly recorded at Cheiron in Stockholm.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 14 of 14 Moments
Near International Drive, Orlando, Florida (site not known)
Lou Pearlman names them after Orlando’s Backstreet Market, a flea market near International Drive.
7007 Sea World Drive, Orlando, Florida
They play their first big show together at SeaWorld, to more than 3,000 people.
Lexington, Kentucky (the city, not a house)
Brian Littrell auditions by telephone and flies to Orlando the next day.
The Backstreet Boys officially become a band.
Fridhemsplan, Kungsholmen, Stockholm (no street number published)
They fly to Sweden to record with Max Martin and Denniz Pop.
Their first album, partly recorded at Cheiron, comes out.
Los Angeles International Airport, Westchester, Los Angeles
Wayne Isham films the I Want It That Way video at LAX, with the fans in a hangar.
1515 Broadway, Times Square, Manhattan
Fans pack MTV’s studio and the pavements for a two-hour Millennium special.
Millennium comes out and sells 1,134,000 copies in a week.
7072 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Their star is unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard, next to Boyz II Men.
Bombay Beach, Imperial County, California
With Kevin Richardson back, they record in London.
Tyler Shields photographs the In a World Like This cover at Bombay Beach.
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, 3667 South Las Vegas Boulevard
Their first residency opens at Planet Hollywood and runs 80 shows.
255 Sands Avenue, Las Vegas
They become the first pop act to play Sphere, playing all of Millennium.
.jpg){kind=link}
_July_2023.JPG){kind=link}
