Britney is world's most overexposed

Forbes magazine has issued its annual list of the world's most overexposed celebrities - and guess who's at the top.

The former Mrs Kevin Federline rates No. 1 in a competitive field that includes Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and the late-Anna Nicole Smith's lover Howard K. Stern.

The E-Poll market research company, which ranked more than 3000 celebrities for Forbes, said 72 per cent of the US population would classify Spears as "overexposed", compared with 54 per cent five years ago.

At that time 35 per cent of respondents described her as "talented". Now just 25 per cent do.

In comparison, even at the height of their careers, most celebrities are rated overexposed by just three to seven per cent of respondents.

And while most professional performers disdain the gossip, others - particularly those whose careers are in freefall - actually court it.

You're only a celebrity as long as you’re in the dialogue of popular culture," the chief executive of E-Poll, Gerry Philpott, told Forbes.

"And if you don't have your work, be it a movie or an album, to keep you in that dialogue, you are forced to rely on exposure."

But it's not all bad news for Britney.

"In this country, we love to build people up, tear them down and then build them back up again," Mr Philpott said.


smh.com.au