Top of the flops: As Tulisa's Female Boss scrapes a place in the top 40 her album ranks with other hyped-up under-performers

The X Factor judge's new record sold only 7,000 copies

X factor judge and ex-N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos has only just poked her way into the top 40 with her curiously-titled debut album, the Female Boss.

Placed at 35 in the chart, having only sold 7,000 copies since it was released on 3 December, the album can already be tentatively filed under "flop".

So which other big names have had much-hyped albums sink like a stone?

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Paris Hilton, Paris

The hotel heiress might have hoped that singing could supplant leaked sex tapes as her main source of fame when she released this inoffensive pop album in 2006, which included reggae-by-numbers hit “Stars Are Blind.” But only 180,000 people saw fit to buy the album, which didn’t leave much of a trace. According to FHM, Paris is now cooking up a house album. She told the mag: “I have a huge passion for house music. It always has been my passion. I just haven't been able to focus on it, because I have been doing reality TV for so long now".

Martine McCutcheon, Musicality

Singer/ actress McCutcheon scored massive acclaim with UK number one "Perfect Moment". But in 2002, this album of show tunes called could only make number 60 in the UK charts, shifting a derisory 3,152 copies on its first day of release- this despite a reported £500,000 publicity campaign. The ex-Eastender’s record deal was swiftly cancelled.

Spice Girls, Forever

Following the departure of Geri “Ginger Spice” Haliwell in 2000, the girl group superstars went for a name of defiant permanence. Sales of 300,000, compared to ten times that for debut Spice, meant that Forever would be- with a sardonic irony- their last studio album.

Kevin Federline, Playing With Fire

In 2006 K-Fed, the rapper/wrestler/actor/ reality TV star most famous for his marriage to the rather-more-successful Britney Spears, released an album that was, to quote Rolling Stone, “every inch as bad as you expected.” And with song titles like “Middle Finger” and “Dance With a Pimp,” it’s surprising it even made it to its eventual 18,000 sales.

Sean Kingston, Tomorrow

He of the shamelessly auto-tuned, Stand By Me-sampling hit Beautiful Girls, and a platinum-selling eponymous debut album, flopped spectacularly with his 2009 follow-up. Tomorrow sold only 30,000 copies, and we haven’t heard much from Kingston since.

Vanilla Ice, Mind Blowin’

Mr. Ice, born Robert Van Winkle, scored a massive hit in 1990 with seven million-selling To the Extreme and its lead single, Ice Ice Baby. But the original white rapper’s 1994 follow-up didn’t go so well. Boasting dubious Hendrix samples, lyrics like “I need some herbs and spices, so I can feel nices,” and sporting dreadlocks presumably inspired by Take That’s Howard Donald, the Ice Man’s second record only sold 42,000 copies.

JC Chasez- Schizophrenic

It was called Schizophrenic, with a cover offensively depicting Mr. Chasez in a straightjacket, and one of the singles was called “All Day Long I Think About Sex.” What could people possibly find unappealing about 2004’s breakout album from Justin Timberlake’s NSync understudy? Plenty, apparently. Despite the Chicago Tribune saying, “songs glisten, groove and give JT a run for his money,” It could barely compete with Mr. Timberlake’s all-conquering output, and scored only 120,000 sales in the US. Which explains why you’ve never heard of the guy.