FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2008

Winning debut
There’s not a woman alive who looks better bent over a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro in a denim miniskirt. With a sultry glower, capricious pout and six tattoos, she’s the junior Angelina Jolie (but without the orphan addiction).

Fantastic form
A silver-medal position for the 27-year-old Californian, based purely on honeyed skin, a drum-taut Latino body and her wilful disregard of why we’re all so desperate to see next year’s Sin City sequel.

Kentish melon-farmer
The 21-year-old with the nation’s finest frontage has spent the last year modelling too-small lingerie, starring in a slightly odd online technology show and making it big in the US.

All day long
Despite 18 months of minimal movie output (including the tortuous Captivity), this 25-year-old is genuinely more popular than ever. Maybe it’s memories of her pink panties in Old School. Or her ‘adult’ scenes in The Girl Next Door.

Up, up and away
“In an age of conflict… in a world of uncertainty… a hero will arise.” TV trailers tell us this, but they didn’t say she’d be a button-cute 18-year-old New Yorker who’d debut in FHM’s very pages.

Fulsome fantasy
“Seriously, I really want to grab Scarlett’s breasts. She’s got beautiful ones.” There you have it: evidence that the 23-year-old now makes even her female co-stars – the famously straight-laced Natalie Portman, in this case – come over all peculiar.

Woman scorned
Since the tabloid revelations, the 24-year-old’s been looking either ‘gaunt’ or ‘fabulous and bouncing back’, depending on which paper you read. A recent voting surge shows what FHM readers think, propelling her back up to seventh spot.

Multi-tasker
Our December 2007 cover star isn’t content with the starring role on high school sit-com Lizzie McGuire, she’s also released five albums and just completed her 16th movie (the ’80s drama Safety Glass).

Child catcher
Debatably, she’s the world’s most physically faultless female, from her vivid bottle-green eyes to those flawless curves (recall her as Lara Croft?). And then there’s her weakness for swinging both ways. “Am I bisexual?” she smiles. “Absolutely. Yes.”

Willowy wonder
As any savvy movie-goer is well aware, historical dramas often contain scenes of erotic brilliance. Keira’s role in last year’s Oscar-nominated Atonement, for example, was savagely salacious. The good news is the 2006 winner has another period bodice-ripper out later this year.

Adoring males have been known to become so lost in the sparkling eyes of 20-year-old Rihanna, that they have gone missing for months on end, immersed in a wonderful optical dream.

This British rose began acting in a Kenneth Brannagh directed Shakespearean adaptation, before heading stateside to become a Hollywood regular. It seems we weren’t the only ones bowled over by her Underworld catsuit – Kate and director Len Wiseman are now married.

With a backside that could launch ships, 25-year-old Jessica first wowed audiences in 2005 with her portrayal of US fighter pilot in Stealth. Look out for her in rom-hom-com I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry next year.

Softening the blow when your girlfriend insists on watching Desperate Housewives, the caramel-skinned stunner has also ventured onto the big screen, most recently in The Sentinel alongside 24 man Kiefer Sutherland.

Pause buttons all around the country were worn out when Californian beauty Rachel Bilson had her first sex scene in The Last Kiss, and she’s now on the market after splitting with The OC co-star Adam Brody. Hurrah!

Chart-topping solo singles aside, the bootylicious ex-Destiny’s Child diva has also found time to appear in award-hoovering musical blockbuster Dreamgirls as, funnily enough, the star of an all-girl singing trio.

After making her name in teen slash-‘em-up I Know What You Did Last Summer, the Texan brunette launched into a four-album-strong pop career, before getting back behind the camera for more light-hearted film roles.

The surprise winner of the ‘Britney vs Christina’ debate that raged in the late 90s, the star of many a raunchy music video is currently touring her third album, Back to Basics.

With a figure forged from the finest Brazilian flesh by sexy angels under the supervision of God himself, Ms Lima is best known for making jaws hit floors as a Victoria’s Secret model.

Regarded by many as the most beautiful supermodel in the world, she's certainly one of the richest - the Brazilian catwalk queen's worth a reported £80 million.

Back in 1999, as NATO bombed Belgrade to pieces, Ana Ivanovic was busy dodging aerial fire while practising her tennis strokes. Now ranked third in the world, the 6ft 1in beauty is a bombshell in her own right.

26-year-old Sophia made her big break back in 2003, shaking her pom-poms as cheerleader Brooke Davis in all-American teen-fest One Tree Hill. She looks certain to improve on last year's position, following a memorable performance in horror remake The Hitcher.

Salma is an Arabic name that means ‘peace’ or ‘calm’, which incidentally is the exact effect that Miss Hayek has on men when displaying her breath-taking norks. See the Latina lovely as a regular guest star on Ugly Betty.

Continuing to refuse to make a not-sexy music video, Ashlee’s older sister’s latest effort A Public Affair sees her whizzing around on roller skates with fellow trouser-tenters Eva Longoria and Christina Milian. Marketing genius at work.

Despite being wholly absent from our TV screens since the departure of Friends, the raisin-smuggling actress' addiction to mediocre romantic comedies means that her famously erect nipples are never more than a DVD rental away.

Though her Oscar-winning portrayal of a non-sexy serial killer in Monster confused more than excited us, Æon Flux brought figure-hugging black catsuits, and all was forgiven.

Former S-Clubber Rachel Stevens spent much of last year stateside trying to land film roles in the vein of fellow popster Holly Vallance. Expect Rach’s drum-tight backside in glorious technicolour very soon.

At only 20, Siberian racquet-maestro Maria Sharapova is World No. 1 and has won over $9m in prize money. Plus, she’s a damn sight easier on the eye than Andy Murray and specialises in orgasmic screams on the court. Anna Kourni-who?

It’s been a rough year for the world’s most Googled woman. After a messy divorce, enough alcohol to stun a herd of wildebeest and an infamous salon visit, the glory days of 2004 when she topped this very poll now seem but a distant sexy memory.

Things went relatively quiet in the Sarah Michelle Gellar camp after winning this very competition, but fear not, the impeccable blonde is signed up for six films this year including the new Ninja Turtles outing.

Despite her rapid rise to fame, the now officially old-enough-to-fancy Harry Potter starlet has kept her feet on the ground, continuing schoolwork alongside acting and various promotional work.

Brooks are often sights of outstanding natural beauty, and 2005’s sexiest woman is no exception. This year, Kelly’s designed a lingerie range to house her all-natural puppies, and is set to star in new film Fishtales.

After several low-key Hollywood roles, the Cuban-American crumpet hits the big time this year, starring alongside Nicholas Cage in comic-book adaptation Ghost Rider and with Joaquin Pheonix in We Own the Night.

Since hotting up 2002’s High Street Honeys supplement, perfectly-proportioned Sarah Harding has continued to brighten our lives. The Girls Aloud babe can now be seen putting her assets to use as an Ultimo lingerie model.

Having concentrated on her film career for most of last year, the pint-sized punky popster returns with her third album The Best Damn Thing in April. Expect more sultry eyeliner and guitar-grappling sexiness.

Following a string of big screen appearances last year, Ukranian Olga is set to become a household name in 2008, having been confirmed as 007's latest squeeze in November's Casino Royale follow-up.

An explicit nude scene from Closer was unfortunately never used, but we still got to see the stunning Natalie Portman as a writhing lap dancer. She's next up in the insane-sounding Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium.

Not content with being the trouser-swelling face of Victoria’s Secret, the German model has recently made semi-successful ventures into the worlds of fashion design, acting and music.

Not a day goes by without the UK press publishing a photo of 20-year-old party-girl Lindsay Lohan out on the tiles, and it’s easy to see why. See the freckled starlet next in Lennon assassination flick Chapter 27.

The Israeli began modelling when still in nappies, so her résumé is as long as the list as suitors. Bar Refaeli’s soaring profile has much to do with her relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio, but watch out for more as her foray into acting begins in earnest in 2008.

Derry girl Nadine Coyle has legs that never end, a voice that makes clergymen weep and a pout that could make schoolboys faint from 100 yards. The 22-year-old Girls Aloud stunner is pure perfection.

Though she’s struggled to find the limelight since R&B trio Mis-Teeq dissolved, the imminent release of her solo album Fired Up could see the feisty MC soon become centre stage once more.

Just 14 when her she first popped up on the man radar way back in 1994 (these are the facts) Heigl will have elicited yet more admiration from her long-standing fan base in Judd Apatow’s rom-com Knocked Up.

Whether she’s stepping out of the sea in an orange bikini to meet James Bond, or strutting around in Catwoman’s leather suit, FHM’s Sexiest Woman in the World 2003 boasts a figure that’s hard to beat.

From the land that gave us pizza and corruption, Italian belle Monica Bellucci has made a big impression on the French – they’ve built a statue of her in a Paris museum and she’s to star in a film alongside Eric Cantona.

This sultry Vancouver native owes her exotic looks to her Dutch, Chinese, Indonesian and Jamaican ancestry. You’ve probably seen Kristin Kreuk hotting up the action in Smallville, and watch out for her in upcoming indie flick Partition.

As the only Pussycat Doll who can sing, it was only a matter of time before painfully gorgeous Nicole Scherzinger and her tight rump went solo – we await tantalising new videos to accompany her debut.

Hollywood starlet Rachel McAdams got her break as a high school bitch in Mean Girls. In the otherwise forgettable teen film, the impeccable Cannuck out-foxed Lindsay Lohan, despite being 28 at the time.