Ten pop groups and duos, from ABBA, Boney M and Hall & Oates to Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, Roxette, the Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys, Daft Punk and Björk, with the studio secrets and record sales behind their hits.
Some of the biggest names in pop are not solo stars but groups and duos, where the chemistry between members is as important as the songs. This collection follows ten of them from the disco era to the age of electronic dance music: Sweden's ABBA and Roxette, the Euro-disco hit machine Boney M, America's best-selling duo Hall & Oates, the British synth pioneers Eurythmics and Depeche Mode, the 1990s phenomena the Spice Girls and the Backstreet Boys, and the French robots of Daft Punk. Iceland's Björk, who started out in bands before going solo, completes the list.
Behind the polished hits there are some remarkable stories. ABBA negotiated their name with a canned seafood company, wore outrageous outfits partly because they were tax-deductible, and turned down a $1 billion reunion offer. Boney M's frontman Bobby Farrell never sang on the studio albums, and producer Frank Farian later used the same trick with Milli Vanilli. The Spice Girls even stole their own master tapes to escape their first management.
Many of the most famous songs were happy accidents. The bassline of "Sweet Dreams" was a mistake, "Wannabe" was written in about thirty minutes, Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" began as a Christmas song before Pretty Woman made it a global hit, and a nonsense lyric in "The Look" survived by chance. Daft Punk took their name from a scathing review.
Between them, these acts have sold hundreds of millions of records, from ABBA's estimated 380 million to the Backstreet Boys' title as the best-selling boy band. Choose a group below to read fifteen facts about it.
Every item on this page, with the one fact most people get wrong about it.
| Name | Where you'll meet it | The fact worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| ABBA | Stockholm, 1972-1982 and 2021 | They turned down a reported $1 billion offer to reunite. |
| Boney M | West Germany, 1976-1986 | Frontman Bobby Farrell never sang on the group's studio albums. |
| Roxette | Halmstad, Sweden, 1986-2016 | An American exchange student launched their US career by bringing their record home. |
| Eurythmics | London, 1980-present | Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart formed the duo after their romantic relationship ended. |
| Depeche Mode | Basildon, England, 1980-present | Their industrial sounds were sampled from scrap metal. |
| Daft Punk | Paris, 1993-2021 | Their name came from a scathing review of their earlier band. |
| Björk | Reykjavík, Iceland, debut 1977 | She released a gold-certified album at the age of eleven. |
| Spice Girls | London, 1994-2000 | Geri Halliwell's Union Jack dress was made from a tea towel. |
| Backstreet Boys | Orlando, Florida, 1993-present | They took their name from Orlando's Backstreet Market. |
| Hall & Oates | Philadelphia, 1970-2023 | Michael Jackson admitted borrowing the bassline of "I Can't Go for That" for "Billie Jean". |
Most Records Sold
380 million+
ABBA are among the most successful pop groups ever, and ABBA Gold became the first album to spend 1,000 weeks on the UK chart. ABBA
Best-Selling Boy Band
130 million+ albums
The Backstreet Boys' Hollywood Walk of Fame tribute credited them with more than 130 million albums sold. Backstreet Boys
Best-Selling Duo
#1 in history
Daryl Hall and John Oates overtook the Everly Brothers as the best-selling duo in recording history. Hall & Oates
Biggest Ticket Demand
3.5 million
Over 3.5 million people applied for tickets to ABBA's two London shows in 1977. ABBA
Stockholm, 1972-1982 and 2021
ABBA won Eurovision with "Waterloo" despite getting zero points from the UK jury, and at one point were Sweden's second most profitable export after Volvo. The Soviet Union paid their royalties in oil and other goods. ABBA Gold became the first album to spend 1,000 weeks on the UK charts.
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West Germany, 1976-1986
Producer Frank Farian created Boney M as a one-man studio project and later reused the formula for Milli Vanilli. "Rivers of Babylon" spent five weeks at number one in the UK, and the group were cultural pioneers in the Soviet Union, where "Rasputin" was censored. Bobby Farrell died in St Petersburg on the anniversary of Rasputin's death.
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Halmstad, Sweden, 1986-2016
Per Gessle and Marie Fredriksson scored four Billboard number ones and sold over 75 million records. "It Must Have Been Love" started out as a Christmas song before Pretty Woman made it a hit. Marie made a triumphant return to the stage after a brain tumour diagnosis.
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London, 1980-present
Eurythmics' first album flopped, and "Sweet Dreams" was recorded in a tiny timber yard with a bassline that came about by accident. Annie Lennox's androgynous look shocked MTV, and her orange hair dye came from a pharmacy. They have sold more than 75 million records.
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Basildon, England, 1980-present
Depeche Mode took their name from a French fashion magazine and lost founder Vince Clarke after one album. "Personal Jesus" was inspired by Priscilla Presley's autobiography, and they played East Berlin before the Wall fell. Singer Dave Gahan was clinically dead for two minutes before being revived.
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Paris, 1993-2021
Daft Punk recorded their debut album in a tiny Paris bedroom and wore Halloween masks before their robot helmets. They turned down David Bowie and played only two major world tours. They announced their split with an art film in 2021.
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Reykjavík, Iceland, debut 1977
Björk, whose name means "birch tree", grew up in Icelandic punk bands before her solo career. She made Medúlla almost entirely from human voices and released the world's first app-based album. She has also worked with Sir David Attenborough to explore nature and sound.
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London, 1994-2000
The Spice Girls were originally called Touch, and there was a fifth member before Emma joined. They stole their own master tapes to break away from their first managers, and a magazine invented their nicknames. "Wannabe" was written in about thirty minutes.
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Orlando, Florida, 1993-present
The Backstreet Boys broke through internationally before releasing an album in the US, and one of their early big shows was at SeaWorld. Two of the members are cousins. Their Hollywood Walk of Fame tribute credited them with more than 130 million albums sold.
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Philadelphia, 1970-2023
Daryl Hall and John Oates met while escaping a gang fight and overtook the Everly Brothers as the best-selling duo in history. "Maneater" started as a reggae song and "Rich Girl" was written about a man. They split royalties 50/50 until a 2023 legal battle ended their partnership.
Read the full article →8 questions, every answer is somewhere above.
1. Which company did ABBA have to negotiate their name with?
2. Which Boney M member never sang on the group's studio albums?
3. What was Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love" originally written as?
4. Where did Annie Lennox's famous orange hair dye come from?
5. Which book inspired Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus"?
6. Where did Daft Punk's name come from?
7. What was Geri Halliwell's famous Union Jack dress made from?
8. How old was Björk when she released her gold-certified debut album?
Of the acts in this collection, ABBA lead with an estimated 380 million records. The Backstreet Boys are often described as the best-selling boy band and the Spice Girls as the best-selling female group of all time.
They turned down a reported $1 billion offer to reunite on stage, but later returned with ABBA Voyage, a concert in which digital avatars known as "ABBAtars", not holograms, perform their songs.
Not all of them. Producer Frank Farian sang the male parts himself, so frontman Bobby Farrell and Maizie Williams did not sing on the studio albums. Liz Mitchell provided the group's definitive female vocals.
The duo used Halloween masks and paper bags before switching to custom robot helmets, which cost tens of thousands of dollars. The disguises protected their privacy and turned them into instantly recognisable characters.
No. After decades of sharing royalties 50/50, the duo's partnership ended in a dramatic legal battle in 2023. Ironically, they had never liked being called "Hall & Oates" in the first place.
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