The group has had thirteen UK number ones singles between the years 1999 and 2005, the fourth-highest such total in UK history, behind Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Cliff Richard. Westlife are also the only band in UK chart history to have entered straight at number one with their first seven singles. They are also the only artiste/group to win 'Record Of The Year' in the UK four times (often attributed to their loyal fanbase). Westlife have sold almost 40 million albums worldwide and have seven multi-platinum albums.

1999-2003: Irish 'Fab Five'
Westlife was formed in July 1998, with the members Kian Egan, Mark Feehily, Shane Filan, Nicky Byrne, and Bryan McFadden.

The group's roots can be found in Sligo in Northwest Ireland, where Egan, Feehily, and Filan were in a six-member vocal group named IOU, which released a single called "Together Girl Forever". They were then discovered by Louis Walsh, (who was contacted by Filan's mother), the manager of 1990s boy band Boyzone, but did not meet Simon Cowell's approval for a record deal with BMG, so changes were needed. Three members of IOU were given the sack, and auditions were held in Dublin. The band recruited Byrne and McFadden. The new group was named Westside. As the name was already taken by another band, it was changed to Westlife. Boyzone singer Ronan Keating was brought in to co-manage the band with Walsh.

Shane Filan, Mark Feehily and Bryan McFadden shared most of the lead vocals. The boys can play instruments (Kian and Bryan play the guitar and the piano) and all five of them are songwriters, although most of their hits have been composed by outside songwriters. The group's musical influences include boy bands such as Boyzone, Take That, and Backstreet Boys, but also vocal bands like Boyz II Men.

Westlife's first big break came in 1998 when they opened for the Backstreet Boys in Dublin. Later that year, they won Best New Tour Act at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party. In March 1999, their first single, "Swear It Again", was released, and went straight to the top of the charts in Ireland and the UK. The band's success was to be confirmed when their second single, "If I Let You Go", entered the charts at number 1 in August 1999, followed by "Flying Without Wings" in November. They became the first number one of the new millennium when their double a-side single, "I Have a Dream/Seasons in the Sun", knocked Cliff Richard's Millennium Prayer off the top spot. In December 2000, however, they failed to secure their eighth chart topper in a row when kid's favourite Bob The Builder's "Can We Fix It" was crowned Christmas number one.

In 2001, the boys launched their first world tour, unofficially nicknamed "The No Stools Tour", because of the band's reputation of performing perched on stools. They also released their third album, "World Of Our Own", with eight self-penned songs.

2002 saw Westlife release their Greatest Hits album amidst rumours of a split. However, they released their fourth album in the autumn of 2003 and won Record of the Year for the third time in five years.

Westlife last single "Amazing" was their 20th consecutive to reach the UK top 5, making Westlife the only band in the UK chart history that reached the UK top 5 20 consecutive times.

The group has so far had 13 UK No.1's, 12 Irish No.1's and 7 Filipino No.1's.

2004-Present: And then there were four

Bryan McFadden left the band on 9 March 2004 to devote more of his time to his family life with British TV personality and former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona and their two children, Molly (born in 2001) and Lilly Sue (born in 2003). They subsequently broke up and Bryan started a solo career, changing the spelling of his first name back to its original 'Brian'. Brian entered the chart at number one with his first solo single, "Real To Me".

If the loss of a member usually means the beginning of the end for pop bands, this was not the case with Westlife. Less than a month after McFadden's departure, the boys kicked off their fourth arena tour. They released "Allow Us To Be Frank" later in the year, a Rat Pack-inspired album. In 2005, after a well-deserved four-month break, they came back with "You Raise Me Up", a cover of a Secret Garden song, which was the first single off their seventh album "Face to Face". On 6 November 2005, both the album and the single ("You Raise Me Up") were at number one in the UK charts and Westlife became the number one band in the world ; it was the first time ever the band had held both top album and single position in the same week. Having outlasted just about every other boy band, the members of Westlife continue to laugh off any speculation of a split-up, claiming their goal is to score at least 20 UK number one singles.

As of late 2005, they have published five original pop albums, one Greatest Hits album and one Rat Pack-inspired swing album. Westlife's fan base is international: they have had success all over the world, especially in Scandinavia and in South East Asia, but also in Europe, Canada, Latin America, South Africa, Australia and even in the newly emerging pop market in Iraq. Westlife have had sold out indoor and outdoor arena tours and they are one of the biggest pop acts to come out of Ireland ever.

Westlife has duetted with some of the biggest names of the music industry, including Mariah Carey, Donny Osmond, Lulu, Donna Summer, and more recently Diana Ross. Claudia Schiffer and Vinnie Jones have also starred in their music videos. Westlife also collaborated with Asian-music sensation BoA on a Korean language version of the song which would appear on her mini-album, Shine We Are!.

Westlife has not yet managed to truly break the United States market. Their debut single and music video "Swear It Again" was released in the US in 2000 and was a moderate hit on mainstream radio and MTV, reaching number 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and being shown briefly on MTV's Total Request Live. Their debut American album was also released in 2000, but they have not yet released another album in the USA. In 2002, an attempt to promote and release an American version of Westlife's "World Of Our Own" album was cut short due to the sharp decline in the popularity of boy-bands and pop music that year in the US. The only Westlife hit best known to American audiences is "Flying Without Wings", since it was later a success for American Idol winner Ruben Studdard. In 2003 they went to Nashville to film a TV documentary and recorded a song originally performed by country music legend Kenny Rogers, "Daytime Friends", which won them much praise.

The band has won ITV's Record of the Year competition four times, with "Flying Without Wings" in 1999, "My Love" in 2000, "Mandy" in 2003 and "You Raise Me Up" in 2005. They have also won 2 Brit Awards.

All the members of Westlife have successfully managed to juggle their careers and their private lives. Nicky Byrne married his childhood sweetheart in July 2003: Georgina Ahern, daughter of the Irish Primer Minister, Bertie Ahern. Shane Filan married Gillian Walsh, Kian Egan's cousin, on 28th December 2003, and he became a dad in 2005, when Gillian gave birth to Nicole on 23 July. Kian Egan is currently dating former Hollyoaks actress and ex-member of Girl Thing Jodi Albert. On 19 August 2005, Mark Feehily publicly came out of the closet in the UK tabloid The Sun, and announced his relationship with Kevin McDaid of now defunct boy band V. Westlife will be doing there first Asian and Australian tour in September 2006. Westlife have just signed a brand new five album deal with Sony/BMG. Their eighth studio album is expected in the Autumn of 2006.