Boyband solo careers: Best and worst

Boybands have always provided us with that perfect combination of slick dance routines, eye candy and unbeatable good-time pop - with chart-topping results. Unfortunately success breeds egos, which in turn spawns solo careers, which, more often than not, ends in disaster. For some strange reason the cute one with the curtains is never as popular when the cool one with the dreadlocks isn't standing next to him! With AJ from the Backstreet Boys becoming the latest boybander to gun for solo glory, we recall the best and worst solo efforts in boyband history.

The Winners

Ronan Keating from Boyzone
Keating's drippy ballads are as exciting as a night playing Bridge with your granny, but it's hard to mock a man who's bagged two number one albums and scored a genuine smash with 'When You Say Nothing At All'.

Robbie Williams from Take That
The "fat dancer from Take That" may be more irritating than a severe case of piles, but with six number ones, 12 Brits and 70 million album sales to his name, you can't deny the bloke's done well for himself.

Simon Webbe from Blue
The quiet one from Blue surprised us all by releasing a pair of dignified and pretty decent soul-cum-R&B albums in Grace and Sanctuary. Bandmate Lee Ryan's abysmal efforts paled into insignificance.

Justin Timberlake from 'N Sync
The nerdy one from 'N Sync morphed into the coolest popstar on the planet when he enlisted The Neptunes and Timbaland to work on his global hit debut Justified.

Michael Jackon from The Jackson 5
After perfect pop smashes like 'ABC', 'Blame It On The Boogie' and 'I Want You Back', it looked like the only way was down for The Jackson 5. Michael, the youngest member, proved otherwise when he went on to become the biggest popstar on the planet

The Losers

Abs from 5ive
While 5ive can lay claim to three number one singles including the half decent 'Keep On Movin', Abs Breen's stab at a solo career was comically short-lived. With only one horrendously-titled album (Abstract Theory) and a couple of stinking singles under his belt, he wisely decided to call it a day.

Mark Owen from Take That
Forget about Gary's Elton John-aping piano ballads, it was little Mark who offered the most disappointing TT solo career. His cheeky smile and pert bum just weren't enough to get any of his three albums inside the top 30.

Brian Harvey from East 17
There was a very brief moment in the '90s when Brian Harvey was considered a "cool" and "credible" artist. His solo venture spawned one dreadful album called Solo, an LP that featured such masterpieces as 'Loving You (Ole, Ole, Ole)' and 'Straight Up (No Bends)'

Brian McFadden
McFadden's bizarre belief that people wanted to see him move away from Westlife and begin a career as a credible indie artist couldn't have been further from the truth. While the angelic Irish lads kept the number ones coming, McFadden's solo LP stumbled at a lowly number 24.

Matt Willis from Busted
Despite having a few decent-to-middling tunes to his name with 'Don't Let It Go To Waste' and 'Up All Night', Matt Willis failed to shed his "ugly one from Busted" tag. Why? Because he always seemed to be trying that bit too hard to become the next Robbie.

Do you agree with our list? Have we missed any truly dreadful boyband solo careers? Just hit the usual button to have your say.