There are lots of solo singers who achieved something that their respective bands never achieved. It doesn’t mean that they are more successful than the bands they were formerly a member of but these artists had a record they achieved that they haven’t achieved when they were still a member of their former band.
Justin Timberlake
NSYNC was one of the biggest boybands back then and broke records for fastest selling album in America. That was never achieved by Justin Timberlake as a solo artist. However, Justin scored 3 consecutive number one singles from his album “Future Sex / Love Sounds” which NSYNC never achieved. The group even only had one number one single.
Beyonce
Beyonce is the leader of girl group Destiny’s Child. The group achieved 4 number 1 in Billboard Hot 100. While Beyonce as a solo singer, she scored 5 number one singles. Beyonce also scored 5 consecutive number 1 albums, while Destiny’s Child even only had 1 number 1 album in Billboard Hot 100.
Nick Jonas
Nick Jonas is the one third of siblings band The Jonas Brothers. The band was very successful then, but they haven’t scored multiplatinum singles. However, Nick Jonas has achieved that going multiplatinum with singles “Jealous” and “Chains” which went 3x and 2x platinum, according to RIAA.
Robbie Williams
Robbie Williams is one of the biggest British artists ever who had sold millions of albums worldwide. His former band Take That may had become very popular but comparing sales of Robbie Williams and Take That, Robbie had sold more. Also, Robbie had a nomination on MTV Video Music Awards, which Take That was never nominated.
Zayn Malik
Zayn Malik left One Direction just last 2015. The group continued recording an album which was their last and achieved success. However, there is one thing Zayn achieved which he never achieved as a member of One Direction. That’s scoring a number 1 single in Billboard Hot 100. One Direction had scored 6 top 10 hits but nothing came to number 1. While Zayn just scored his first number one hit through “PILLOWTALK”. He even sets record for entering the charts at the top.
Credits: Billboard / MTV / OCC / Wikipedia
Video from YouTube / justintimberlakeVEVO