Songfacts®:

• Released on May 17, 2018 to celebrate the Backstreet Boys' 25th anniversary, this is an original track and not a cover of the famed Elton John-Kiki Dee duet of the same title.
• The track was written by Stephen Wrabel (Ellie Goulding) and produced by Stuart Crichton (Kesha) and Jamie Hartman (James Bay).
  
  "The minute we heard this song we knew it was special," said Backstreet's Kevin Richardson. "I geeked out over the piano and synths. When that groove drops on the second verse, COME ON. Great verse, hook and melodies. Just makes you wanna listen over and over again."
• This was pitched to Backstreet Boys by Stuart Crichton, but there was another song in the running the boys also liked titled "Wait." However, that one wasn't to be, because Maroon 5 nabbed the tune.
  
  "At the same time that was presented to us, we were told that [Adam Levine] had heard it and there was a possible chance that he might want it for [their] single," Howie Dorough told Billboard. "That's just kind of how the nature of the game goes - but we don't get too caught up about it. We just move on knowing that there's always gonna be great songs coming around the corner."
• AJ McLean told Entertainment Weekly: "To me, it sounds like if you were to mash up The Weeknd with The Bee Gees. It's reminiscent of old-school Backstreet Boys, like Millennium days, with a more modern twist.
• The song was Backstreet Boys first Hot 100 entry in 11 years. Their previous one was "Inconsolable," which peaked at #86 in 2007. Nick Carter told ABC Radio the group had an inkling it would be a hit right from the start.
  
  "We had a gut feeling that this was the best song we've had in a long time, but you never know when you put it out," he said. "And then it just started climbing the charts... and you get those treats every now and then of those people who are just fans of the song and the music and that's rewarding."
• This was the lead single from DNA. The guys were originally going to do a concept album but changed their minds and ended up with a bunch of disparate songs, many of them acoustic, many of them digital. Kevin Richardson recalled to Radio.com: "We thought, well we call the album digital and analog, we could do a double album, and then AJ was like 'digital and analog, DNA.'"
• DNA was also BSB's first #1 album since 2000's Black & Blue. When asked if the group knew DNA would bring that back to the top, Howie D told Songfacts: "We had a good feeling that if we were going to have a chance to 'come back' that there was possibly a chance, especially with this first song, 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart.' When we all heard that for the first time, that was when we all just across the board said, 'This is something special,' which is very rare.
  
  The demo was so good, and we needed to do it justice. You know, it's hit-or-miss sometimes when you're doing a demo. Sometimes it's sounding great when you hear all the voices and sometimes it's just meant to be with the person who wrote the song and did the demo. We, fortunately, put our voices to the song and it was like magic. We were like, 'This is it.'"