[Nimrod]

So we have all seen those TOP 100 or TOP 50 most beautiful women lists over the years. Many times they come out at the end of the year or just before the summer. There often is commentary about how someone has moved up or down on the list or that there is someone new at number one. This started me thinking about how they compare back to the population at large.

How does breast size relate, if at all, to being on these lists? Would I find that over time that breast size would average out and not really be a factor? These lists after all are populated by super-models, glamorous **28** and the "most beautiful" as voted on by the readers or other mass vote. Breast size is just one small (or not so small in some) aspect of overall beauty.

What I found was interesting.

The data crunching:
First I collected just over a dozen of these TOP WHATEVER lists of the MOST BEAUTIFUL from the past 15 years. At first pass I was surprised at how consistent or persistent some women where at staying on the list. They would jump around in rank but would still be in the TOP 50. I focused on the top 50 as some lists only went that far.

Second I averaged the results for each ranking in terms of physical traits, height, bra size, weight, age, etc. So, the person at rank of say number 15 was not a single person but rather the aggregate of all people to hold that spot.

Lastly I charted the results by rank to see if there were any trends in the sizes. I had expected to see little or no trending as my expectation would be that relative breast size would have little effect on a composite and averaged beauty list.

The resulting chart:
The attached chart has two groups of data that were most telling.
Remember - there is no actual person at rank of 1 or 2 or 27 but rather this is the average size of the people to hold that rank over 14 of these lists.

The lower line (in blue) is the difference from the average cup size (red line) that this rank held.
The upper more jumpy line (in green) is the difference in overall build from average (yellow line) - the higher the value the more busty was the person at that rank for their build.
The black line is a curve-fit trending line.

Conclusions:
1) Yes, the most beautiful were more busty than average both in just raw bust size and for their builds.
2) In fact, 9 of the top 10 were well bustier than average, with the number 2 rank being the chestiest of any on the charts.
3) Just outside of the top 10 is a range slightly below average that runs out to about the rank of 25 or so.
4) Beyond the top 25 the ranks appear to start to oscillate back and forth from busty to flatter to busty.

Other observations along the way:
~ The average age when adjusted for the year of the list for these women was a surprisingly mature 36.7
~ The average bra size for the entire group would be a 34C, slightly larger than average
~ The average height was actually 5'-7 1/4" (172.8cm)
~ Those that are tall and busty for their build do trend higher in rank - so amazons do well overall.
~ Again, as with my other research, weight had no significant effect on the results, with height having a small influence.
~ With just a few statistical outliers women in the top 50 were surprisingly proportionate and scaled to height - not many twigs or chubby ones. Their builds were consistently average for the most part, in other words rather common.

Again, remember there is no single person on this chart at a rank but rather the trend overall as you move from 50 to 1.

Assumptions:

Those in the top 10 have the more rare combination of outstanding proportionate tall bodies with large or very large breasts for their builds. That fact that number 2 ranks are the chestiest of all and number 1 moves back toward the norm may be a cultural bias depriving the obviously most endowed and rewarding it to an equally beautiful but not as sensual woman. This may be to avoid the claim that one reached the top rank by bust alone.

The fact that there is consistently an increasing run up in breast size to the top ranks does point to the fact that larger breasts are perceived as contributing to beauty.

The cluster of below average chests just outside the top ranks also suggests that these are the women that would have done better if only they have a bit more boob.

It is interesting how proportionate the relative bust size line was to the overall build and rankings. Any tick up in relative bust had an equal or greater increase in the other. In other words, having any bust at all improved one's overall rank.

Thus having more breast does equal having more beauty.

It would be funny to tell you who the most mathematically average woman on the list is as they are not average at all.

[tdotter]

As long as the women on these lists are naked then I'm okay with whatever the data shows.

[DruulEmpire]

I have to wonder how much the presence of Sofia Vergara and Christina Hendricks alone skews all this.

[Nimrod]

I have to wonder how much the presence of Sofia Vergara and Christina Hendricks alone skews all this.

As tempting to think that they had some massive influence they did not and actually had a leveling effect.
You realize that they did not stay static at one rank over time.

Christina did not even show up in the top 50 for many of the lists. Sofia jumped around, so her stats actually contributed to several rank standings. But for every Christina, Sofia, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra there is a Toni Braxton, Alyssa Milano or Jennifer Aniston moving around the chart.

By the way, the person closest to average on the lists was: Yasmine Bleeth

[TheZookie007]

Any chance of seeing the list?

[Nimrod]

Any chance of seeing the list?

OK, I knew somebody would not read the three (3) times I explained that there is no single list.

The chart is an aggregate of 14 different lists, so all the women to be at say rank 27 were averaged together.

This way I could show that larger than average breasts tend to the higher ranked beauties.

Showing you any one list would be meaningless as that is not what I was researching.

Yasmine Bleeth is just the closest physically to the mathematical average woman on all lists of the top 50.
The average woman did not exist on any list.

Bottom line is the larger your breasts the more beautiful you will be ranked.

[TheZookie007]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...but can we still see the list?

(runs away as Nimrod starts throwing sharp objects in his general direction)

[Nimrod]

Yeah, yeah, yeah...but can we still see the list?

(runs away as Nimrod starts throwing sharp objects in his general direction)

No objects just a stern look. Again, which list do you want to see? List number 5 or 8 or 11 or how about list number 14?
They are all different so the person at any particular spot changes.
There is no list to show you that exactly follows the chart as the chart is the amalgam of 14 lists. Just go out and find one of the more recent top whatever lists and it will probably follow the tendency of the aggregate chart.

The sample size was thus 700 individuals/ranks, not large but consistent enough given the results.


Because this is the BEA I can provide the top 10 bustiest to hit the lists and their highest rank:
Biggest Boobs to make the top 50
(in descending relative breast size to build)
Highest Rank of 02 for Pamela Anderson Lee
Highest Rank of 06 for Elsa Benitez
Highest Rank of 08 for Maria Grazia Cucinotta
Highest Rank of 30 for Amber Smith
Highest Rank of 27 for Jeri Ryan
Highest Rank of 01 for Leatitia Casta
Highest Rank of 32 for Shania Twain tied with Carmen Electra at maximum rank of 33
Highest Rank of 41 for Jenny McCarthy
Highest Rank of 03 for Elle MacPherson

The smallest breast to make the lists belong to Angie Everheart who reached a highest rank of 7

[pedonbio]

Am I correct in concluding that there is a significant (+1 standard deviation) jump in cup size in the top 5 positions?

[Nimrod]

Am I correct in concluding that there is a significant (+1 standard deviation) jump in cup size in the top 5 positions?

Not really. In order of descending rank the standard deviation (rounded to +/- 0.5SD) looks like this:

Rank 1 was +1.5 SD
Rank 2 was +3 SD
Rank 3 was +0.5 SD
Rank 4 was +0.5 SD
Rank 5 was +0.5 SD
Rank 6 was almost +2 SD
Rank 7 was -1 SD
Rank 8 was almost +2 SD
Rank 9 was 0 SD
Rank 10 was 0 SD

Again it should be noted that there is a cluster of negative first order ranks just outside the top 10 spots. Half of the ranks from 10 to 25 are significantly smaller in the chest. This run has a red box around it. These are the beautiful women who just do not have enough bust to bump them into the top 10.

Average relative BF was 17.12 with a standard deviation of 7.25

[Nimrod]

Just found it interesting that the person with the least standard deviation is Angelina Jolie.

In other words Angelina is the most average in just her bust to build for the top 50, whereas Yasmine Bleeth was most average in overall physical proportions to the average woman.

Mod edit to remove 1-1-1 violation. Nim, you could avoid this by linking to pix of these ladies ALREADY on the BEA server or by combining mulitple pix into a single attachment. Sorry to step in, but we've gotta enforce the Owner's policy fairly to all. -Pal

[Nimrod]

The person with the greatest standard deviation, just barely 3rd order is Pamela Anderson Lee.

She was one that helped to move rank 2 so high as she attained that rank in 4 of the 14 lists.

Mod edit to remove 1-1-1 violation. Nim, you could avoid this by linking to pix of these ladies ALREADY on the BEA server or by combining mulitple pix into a single attachment. Sorry to step in, but we've gotta enforce the Owner's policy fairly to all. -Pal

[Nimrod]

And the winner for greatest persistence and the only person to be on every one of the lists is Jennifer A.

She averages out around the rank of 18 right in the middle of the flatter but nice looking group.
But with a relative BF of only 9.5882 to the average 17.126 her brief jump to no.1 in a 2011 list shows that it is possible.

Mod edit to remove 1-1-1 violation. Nim, you could avoid this by linking to pix of these ladies ALREADY on the BEA server or by combining mulitple pix into a single attachment. Sorry to step in, but we've gotta enforce the Owner's policy fairly to all. -Pal

[Nimrod]

Am I correct in concluding that there is a significant (+1 standard deviation) jump in cup size in the top 5 positions?

To slightly misuse standard deviation the average SD for the top 5 positions over the 14 lists was +1.2.
So, yes the top 5 had a mathematically "significant" or at 1 cup above the baseline or more.

Another way to see "the flat gap" is to chart the results based on standard deviation (not size) with regard to rank - this chart shows the "beautiful but flat" group very well. Except for the 3 statistical outliers, 1 high and 2 low the trend is that the rather busty and beautiful average out at higher ranks overall than the beautiful and flat with the beautiful but around average size ranking lower around the average to lower ranks.

What this means is that you need a remarkable body and good looks (or be a statistical blip) to break into the top 10.

Oh, but what a blip you would be.

[DruulEmpire]

It's at times like these that I miss the KC Strip (although first and above all, all well, warm and good wishes go out to Kithara), because this is precisely the sort of discussion that my numbers-obsessed take on the character of my avatar Melanie would love to get embroiled in.

The moral I'm getting out of this is: men like a curve.  I think of MSNBC's Tamron Hall (sadly, I suspect she never made any list) who grew up schoolboy flat and had herself only very subtly augmented, just so womanly clothes would hang nicely on her (and they do, oh, they do).

Given that men like a curve, it gets more controversial to ask: how much curve?  This Archive thrives on morphing, but given the women we've got, would popularity actually rise or possibly be crippled if they were made bustier?  This gets all the trickier because we're already used to how they are right now, and any boost would involve augmentation, and that then leads into the whole fake vs. natural "controversy."  (Pregnancy is an alternative, but not everyone is into that either.)

I should like to thank 'Rod and this project for coining the (somewhat oxymoronic-seeming?) phrase "flat gap."  There was a time when it was fashionable to complain of a "generation gap" -- and so far as I can see, the onslaught, if not the acceleration, of technological and cultural change continues to divide the generations into different worlds.  We at the BEA are up against society's "flat gap," a combination of "Some curve is nice, but never go 'overboard'" and a big "flat is right" contingency.  I find the women singled out here to be very telling.  Yes, we have Pam Anderson -- but, c'mon.  Baywatch?  VIP?  Stacked!?  Barb Wire!?  She's a safe joke.  Elsewhere we have Sofia Vergara but she's a comedienne.  (I think of Marilyn Monroe primarily as a comedienne.)  Christina Hendricks lands a respected drama, but even within that context she is the sex symbol.  ("Actually, Marilyn is a Joan.")  The rules are: you have curves, you have to pay social dues for them.  To me Angelina Jolie's appearance here is all the more fascinating because she gets to have it all ways.  My understanding (wrongly?) is that she agreed to have herself look subtly (but notably) boosted for the Lara Croft movies -- so she got to flirt with infamous bustiness without actually getting marked by it.  (I think Scarlett Johansson is managing the same thing -- getting felt up by Isaac Mizrahi, having fun playing Janet Leigh, but noted mainly as an assassin.)

The "flat is right" contingent is a mystery to me.  I don't "get" Jennifer Aniston.  She looks nice enough, all right -- and then what?  All right, so she starred in a ridiculously popular TV show -- but guess what, that show also had Courteney Cox, and even Lisa Kudrow had a winning goofiness.  (The show also didn't have enough Aisha Tyler, but that's a whole other issue.)

In my personal life, the hottest women have been flat.  Would I have preferred them busty?  Of course -- but my preference is not a prejudice, it doesn't blind me to everything else.  Yet I have to wonder if the other side is so agreeable.  How many women are given a pass, with the argument "At least she doesn't have boobs"?