In the strongest same-source comparison available, the Backstreet Boys sold more U.S. album units with Millennium than *NSYNC did with No Strings Attached. Nielsen counted 12,241,000 units for Millennium and 11,152,000 for No Strings Attached through December 29, 2013. That is a lead of 1,089,000 units—but it compares two albums in the United States, not the bands’ worldwide career totals.
How the two albums compare
Nielsen’s 2013 U.S. Music Industry Year-End Review ranks both albums in its table of top-selling albums of the SoundScan era, covering 1991 through December 29, 2013. Because the figures come from the same table and share a territory, unit and reporting window, they offer the clearest direct comparison:
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| 1 |
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| Album | U.S. album units | Rank in Nielsen’s SoundScan-era table | Reporting window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Backstreet Boys, Millennium | 12,241,000 | 5th | 1991 through December 29, 2013 |
| *NSYNC, No Strings Attached | 11,152,000 | 10th | 1991 through December 29, 2013 |
On this measure, Millennium is ahead by 1,089,000 U.S. album units. Nielsen’s figures are for these albums, not for every release by either group.
Why other published figures differ
Millennium: U.S. copies and certified shipments
Guinness World Records reported that Millennium had sold 12.25 million copies in the United States by October 2014. That is a later-dated figure than Nielsen’s 2013 table entry and comes from a different source, so it should be reported on its own terms rather than substituted into Nielsen’s comparison.
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Guinness also reported that the Recording Industry Association of America had certified 13 million shipments for Millennium on February 7, 2001. A certification measures shipments under the RIAA’s certification system; it is not the same measure as tracked album units. The shipment figure should not be added to, or treated as interchangeable with, Nielsen’s total.
No Strings Attached: RIAA certification
ABC News reported in December 2000 that the RIAA had awarded *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached a second diamond certification, with the album having shipped more than 10 million copies. ABC described diamond certification as signifying shipments of 10 million units. This certification figure is not directly comparable to Nielsen’s album-unit count.
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Does this settle which group sold more worldwide?
No. Sony Music Entertainment UK’s artist page, labeled © 2026, claims that the Backstreet Boys have worldwide sales “in excess of 130 million” and calls them the best-selling boy band in history. The sources available here do not provide a comparable *NSYNC lifetime worldwide total on the same basis. Without matching figures for both groups, territory, scope, counting method and date, the worldwide career-sales question remains unresolved by these numbers.
A historical Sony Music Media Room announcement from 2005 said the Backstreet Boys had sold more than 73 million albums worldwide at that time. That is a dated claim about the group’s album sales, not a current total and not a like-for-like comparison with *NSYNC.
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What “sold more records” can mean
The answer depends on what is being counted. An album’s tracked U.S. units, RIAA-certified shipments, and an artist’s worldwide career sales are different measures. A sound comparison needs to hold four things constant:
- Territory: United States or worldwide.
- Scope: one album or the group’s full catalog and career.
- Unit: tracked sales or certified shipments.
- Date: the reporting period or date attached to the figure.
Nielsen’s table holds those comparison points constant for Millennium and No Strings Attached; the available worldwide claims do not establish a comparable lifetime total for both bands.
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