New Kids on the Block, By the Numbers

After getting a taste for the limelight with New Edition in the early ’80s, music entrepreneur Maurice Starr assembled a second Boston boy band—one that would become known to hordes of screaming teen fans as New Kids on the Block. They released their first album in April 1986 to relatively little fanfare, but within three years, they were dominating the airwaves with Hangin’ Tough. While the group’s meteoric rise saw an equally fiery plummet, we now find ourselves living in an era when a reformed NKOTB is still, remarkably, selling out shows. We consider the (not-so) New Kids, 30 years on.

88

Hangin’ Tough’s ranking on the “Greatest of All Time: ­Billboard 200 Albums.”

$8.95

Price of the O.F.D. (Originally from Dorchester) burger at Wahlburgers.

Nynuk

The band’s original name.

$118

Phone bill that singer Pink racked up as a young Blockhead calling the NKOTB hotline, 900-909-5KID.

Average Age of Members in Bands Managed by Maurice Starr

Year Founded: 1982
New Edition: 14.2

Ricky Bell: 15
Michael Lamont Bivins: 14
Robert “Bobby” Brown: 13
Ronnie DeVoe: 15
Ralph Tresvant: 14

Year Founded: 1984
New Kids on the Block: 14.4

Jonathan Knight: 16
Jordan Knight: 14
Joey McIntyre: 12
Donnie Wahlberg: 15
Danny Wood: 15

Year Founded: 2015
NK5: 10.0

Finess: 11
Gee Que: 9
Ice: 12
Lil Gee: 10
Lil Redd: 8

An NKOTB Timeline

1984

New Kids on the Block forms in Boston.

1986

The debut album New Kids on the Block is released. U.S. sales: 3 million copies.

1988

The album Hangin’ Tough is released. U.S. sales: 8 million copies.

Original New Kid Mark Wahlberg attacks two Asian men; he seeks pardon
in 2014.

1989

Massachusetts declares April 24 “New Kids on the Block Day.”

1990

The album Step by Step is released. U.S. sales: 3 million copies.

1992

The band files a defamation lawsuit to fight allegations of lip-syncing.

1994

The album Face the Music is released. U.S. sales: 138,000 copies. The group disbands.

1999

MTV unsuccessfully attempts to reunite the group for the VMAs.

2007

The group reunites.

2008

The album The Block is released. U.S. sales: 332,000 copies as of 2013.

2009

The first NKOTB cruise sets sail.

2011

NKOTBSB (the New Kids/Backstreet Boys hybrid) plays Fenway Park.

2013

The album 10 is released, selling 51,000 copies in its first week.

2014

NKOTB gets a Hollywood star.

Wahlburgers first opens its doors, with an accompanying reality show.

2015

Donnie Loves Jenny, a reality show about Donnie Wahlberg’s marriage to Jenny McCarthy, debuts on A&E.

2016

An NKOTB cruise is scheduled to sail from New Orleans to Cozumel in October.