Howie Dorough and AJ McLean were natives of Orlando, Florida, who met each other and later discovered Nick Carter through auditions. The three, realizing that they could Harmonize together, decided to form a trio. Cousins Kevin Richardson and Brian Littrell, both from Lexington, Kentucky, sang in local church choirs and festivals when they were children. Richardson moved to Orlando in 1990, where he worked at Walt Disney World and concentrated on music at night. Eventually, he met Dorough, Carter, and McLean through a co-worker, and the four decided to form a group.

The Backstreet Boys have always prided themselves as a vocal harmony group and not a boy band. In order to fight the boy band stereotype and the backlash from New Kids on the Block's lip-sync scandal in the beginning, they sing a cappella every chance they get. The ad they answered in 1993 was for a singing group with "New Kids on the Block look with a Boyz II Men sound", and they aimed to have a white version of Boyz II Men. "We were fans of New Kids, but were we really modeled after them? No. We looked at ourselves as Shai, Jodeci, Boyz II Men, the true vocal groups. That's who we listened to and who we really wanted to be like," Littrell stated in 2011. The Backstreet Boys often employ polyphonic harmony, which sets them apart from many other singing groups. In choruses, Littrell, Carter, and McLean usually sing the melody with Dorough harmonizing above the melody and Richardson covering the bass parts. During Richardson's absence, McLean and Carter together covered his part in choruses while Dorough took his solo parts, although McLean sang Richardson's verse in "Drowning".

In June 1995, the group flew to Sweden to record some songs with Max Martin and Denniz PoP, including "We've Got It Goin' On", which ended up being their very first single. "We've Got It Goin' On" was sent to radio in August 1995 and released as a physical single on September 5, 1995. In North America, Mix 96 in Montreal broke the group after the programmers heard it on the radio in Europe. The song was a minor success in the U.S., peaking at only No. 69 by December 1995, but it entered the top 5 in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, and the Netherlands. European success sent them there on a summer tour and shifted their promotion being mostly done in Europe. They finished recording their first album Backstreet Boys in April 1996 and it was released internationally on May 6, 1996, excluding U.S. and Canada; however, it was later released in Canada in October 1996.

Their popularity grew in Europe. "I'll Never Break Your Heart" reached a Gold status in Germany for selling 250,000 copies and they were voted the No. 1 international group there in 1996. They also earned their first platinum record in Germany in 1996 for selling 500,000 copies of their debut album and shortly thereafter they began touring Asia and Canada. They also became one of the most successful debut artists in the world, collecting awards such as Durchstarter (Best Newcomers) in Germany's Viva Comet Awards in 1996.

The group began working on their second album, Backstreet's Back, in 1996. They also recorded the song "If You Stay" for the Booty Call Soundtrack in the same year, which was released in February 1997. Backstreet's Back was released internationally (except in the U.S.) on August 11, 1997. Their self-titled U.S. debut album, which consisted of songs from their 1996 international debut album and Backstreet's Back, was released in the U.S. a day later, August 12, 1997. The U.S. self-titled debut peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. album chart and eventually sold 14 million copies. Meanwhile, the second international release, Backstreet's Back, peaked at No. 1 in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Austria, selling well over five million copies in Europe alone. The two self-titled albums, the international debut and the U.S. debut, sold more than 28 million copies worldwide.

On October 7, 1998, the group received the keys to the city from the mayor of Orlando in honor of the tornado relief concert the group headlined in March that raised over $250,000. The day was also declared as Backstreet Boys Day in Orlando. They also began recording their third studio album, Millennium, at the beginning of that month while in the middle of a lawsuit. The worldwide hit single "I Want It That Way" which topped the single-charts in over 25 countries made anticipation for Millennium high. Millennium was released on May 18, 1999, on which day the Backstreet Boys made a heavily publicized appearance on MTV's Total Request Live.

The second leg of Into the Millennium Tour, which was also the first North American leg, was sponsored by Sears and was officially titled "Sears Presents Backstreet Boys Into The Millennium". The sponsorship was a part of Sears' new integrated marketing campaign that exclusively featured the Backstreet Boys. The campaign included a 30-second advertisement, featuring the group, which was aired from August 1–15, 1999. The advertising promoted a back-to-school sweepstakes which gave each of five fans the chance to win a $2,000 Sears shopping spree with their favorite Backstreet Boys member, and a trip for four to the group's concert on December 1, 1999 in Tampa, Florida.

In January 2000, the Backstreet Boys signed a deal with Burger King. The deal included an exclusive compilation set that was only available for sale at Burger King restaurants. The compilation consisted of three CDs featuring a new song called "It's True" and live songs from the group's previous tours, and a VHS tape featuring backstage footage and interviews. In August 2000, it was announced that the deal would also include three TV commercials featuring the Backstreet Boys, and a promotion, which was the inclusion of an exclusive Backstreet Project Cyber Crusader toy in each Burger King Big Kids Meal and Kids Meal.

The Hits – Chapter One, their first compilation album, was released on October 23, 2001. It also included a previously unreleased song, "Drowning". The album entered the top 5 in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Canada, and the top 10 in Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. In the U.S., The Hits: Chapter One was certified platinum for selling over one million copies. It was also certified platinum by IFPI for selling over one million copies in Europe. "Drowning" reached top 10 in many countries and as of 2002, the album had sold almost six million worldwide.

In 2002, the group expressed a strong Desire to leave their management company, The Firm. However, Carter chose to remain with The Firm to manage his solo career. Shortly afterwards, the rest of the group began recording their next album without him. The relationship with JIVE Records worsened when the Backstreet Boys filed a $75–100 million lawsuit against Zomba Music Group (JIVE's parent company), claiming breach of contract. They claimed that the label promoted Carter's solo album Now or Never at the expense of the group.

In November 2003, McLean appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about his addiction to alcohol and drugs, and his struggles rising to fame for the first time in public. The rest of the group surprised him by appearing in person to give him support, marking the first time the Backstreet Boys had appeared together in public in almost two years. The group began to reform and reconcile their differences, planning to start recording a comeback album at the beginning of the following year.

The Backstreet Boys entered the studios in January 2004 to start recording the new album. They also started performing together to promote their return to the music scene. In September, they kicked-off a small Asian tour, visiting Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Manila, performing some new material. Based on the success of this tour, they announced a Mexican tour, visiting Mexico City and Monterrey.

The Backstreet Boys' musical style has evolved over the years. On their debut and second album, they sang a Hybrid of R&B and dance club pop mixed with new jack balladry and hip-hop. With Millennium and Black & Blue, they started to abandon R&B and shift more toward pop and pop rock, as demonstrated on songs like "I Want It That Way", "Shape of My Heart", "Larger than Life", and "Not For Me". The group drastically changed their style in 2005 with their comeback album Never Gone, which is an adult contemporary record featuring only live instruments, a departure from their previous pop sound that features a lot of synthesizers. Compared to their previous albums, Never Gone is "more organic, more stripped-down, less harmonies, more instrumentation". Their first album without Richardson, Unbreakable, is similar to Never Gone. It leans toward adult contemporary and contemporary pop music and features interwoven choral harmonies, piano, strings, guitar, and drums, with a little bit of hip-hop and reggae elements on some tracks, such as "One in A Million". With their seventh studio album, This Is Us, they went back to their original dance-pop beats combined with electropop. It also contains a more R&B sound compared to Unbreakable. The group's first independent album, In A World Like This, which is also their first album back with Richardson, is a mixture of modern pop, adult contemporary, and dance music, with a hint of singer-songwriter genre as demonstrated on "Try", "Madeleine", and "Trust Me".

On June 23, 2006, it was announced that Richardson had left the Backstreet Boys to pursue other interests. Both Richardson and the rest of the group issued a statement on their official site, stating that he departed amicably and the door was always open for him to return. Following Richardson's departure, the group was suggested to change their name to Backstreet, but they decided against it. They also turned down an offer to star in a reality show to find a new member and Musicians who had expressed interest in replacing Richardson, such as Sam Licata and former NSYNC members Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, stating that they weren't planning to replace him.

Two days after Richardson's departure announcement, the Backstreet Boys entered the studio to record their sixth album. The album, titled Unbreakable, was released on October 30, 2007. It received positive reviews, and opened at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 81,000 copies in its first week of release. It performed well in Japan, debuting at No. 1 on the Japanese Oricon weekly album charts and staying there for another week. They released two singles from the album, "Inconsolable" and "Helpless When She Smiles".

The group went on a world tour to promote Unbreakable, starting in Tokyo, Japan on February 16, 2008. The tour included shows in Australia, Japan, Mexico, UK, Europe, Asia, Canada, and United States. The show in London's The O2 Arena was filmed and is available to watch online on MSN website. Richardson rejoined the rest of the group on stage at the Palladium in Hollywood, Los Angeles on November 23, 2008 for the last North American stop of the tour.

A few days after promoting the new album and filming the music video for "Bigger" in Japan, Littrell contracted swine flu, causing the group to cancel a signing at Hard Rock Café in New York for the NYC Pinktober event on October 5, 2009. The rest of the group were prescribed Tamiflu by a Doctor, even though they weren't showing any symptom of the flu. The group subsequently canceled a scheduled CBS Early Show performance the next day on October 6, 2009, which was also the release day of their new album, This Is Us. In late October 2009, the group embarked on the This Is Us Tour, which lasted over a year and consisted of 122 shows.

The Backstreet Boys, including Richardson, filmed a segment for The Oprah Winfrey Show on October 22, 2010. Richardson also performed with the group in the show's studio later that day, making it the second time he had performed with the group since his departure.

As he had announced before on On Air with Ryan Seacrest in October 2011, Richardson hosted a beach party, part of the group's second annual cruise, in the Bahamas on December 3, 2011, where he performed with them. On Seacrest's radio show, he also stated that he would love to perform with the group again on a more regular basis. The statement, along with his appearance at the cruise event, prompted speculations that he might rejoin the group for good, but both he and the group remained quiet on the matter.

In August 2012, it was revealed that the Backstreet Boys would be starring in an Old Navy commercial. The commercial featuring the group started airing on September 19, 2012. "It was a great way to show people that we're back," Richardson said regarding the commercial. The group also performed at an Old Navy event "Fit For Fall Fashion Show for All" in Bryant Park, New York on September 14, 2012.

The group has received seven Grammy Award nominations as of 2013, including four nominations in 2000. The group has also received two American Music Awards, seven Billboard Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, a Juno Award, and many others.

On March 12, 2014, the group filmed a series of commercials for Swedish warehouse company NetOnNet in Sweden while the group was on tour in Europe. The commercials started airing in May 2014. For the purpose of these commercials, the group recorded a song called "Lager Than Life", which is a remake of their song "Larger Than Life" with different instrumentation. The song was also released as a single on iTunes by the company in several countries.

In October 2015, McLean revealed that the group were working on their ninth studio album. McLean said the band are working with Producer Jacob Kasher, who has worked with Maroon 5 and Britney Spears. The band hopes to have the album done before the next Backstreet Boys cruise in May 2016.

On September 15, 2016, McLean and Carter officially confirmed that the band will be done with the album the following year, along with a new headlining tour. On September 23, the Backstreet Boys confirmed their Vegas residency show happening in 2017, titled "Backstreet Boys: Larger Than Life". In 2016, it was announced that the residency would continue through February 2018.