Girls Aloud

Since breaking the record for the shortest time between forming (on Popstars: The Rivals) and reaching #1 (with 2002's surf-rockin' "Sound of the Underground"), the world's sexiest girl group has sashayed their way to pop supremacy, leaving a trail of pure glitz in their wake and setting a standard few of their peers could ever dream of equaling.

Crank up these hits before visiting remix territory in Next Steps.

The great guilty pleasure of Girls Aloud, musically speaking, lies in their two-pronged assault on our pleasure receptors: First they overhaul and sex-up a great track (like Duran Duran's "Girls on Film"); then they process it through the remix machine so that we end up with the Almighty Vocal Mix of the Pointer Sisters' "Jump" and Tony Lamezma's Club Romp version of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You".

Backed by Brian Higgins' unstoppable Xenomania production factory, the all-conquering Girls Aloud quickly found that perfect blend of manufactured polish, carefree fun, supreme catchiness, and sexy confidence. Cheryl Cole, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, and Kimberley Walsh shot out of their reality-TV beginnings like greyhounds from their traps, chasing the stuffed rabbit of fame, and set such a searing pace that no one's likely to stop them now, as they storm into the annals of girl-group legend. Our playlist captures the girls at the top of their game.