Top Ten: SI Swimsuit Covers in History

With Labor Day in the rear view mirror it means that the fall is officially here and summer is gone. Of course that's not really the case in Arizona (over 100 again) but as we gear up for the Fall I suppose it's time for us to look back on one of our favorite things of the summer. Swimsuits. Yes that's right, who doesn't love being poolside and seeing the girls in swimsuits. Now while the annual SI Swimsuit Issue doesn't come out until February I feel that with summer behind us, we should look back on the Top Ten Swimsuit Issue Covers in SI history. I originally was going for a countdown of some sort but I had a hard enough time narrowing it to Ten. Ranking them would have been damn near impossible so here it is in chronological order:

10. February 4, 1980 - Vol. 52 Issue 5 - Christie Brinkley
The one time Most Downloaded Woman on the Internet, and we can see why.

9. February 10, 1986 - Vol. 64 Issue 6 - Elle MacPherson
Next we have the all-time leader in SI covers.

8. February 20, 1995 - Vol. 82 Issue 7 - Daniela
The one-named wonder shows us that less isn't always more. Sometimes leaving a little something to the imagination is a good thing. Though not much is left to the imagination.

7. February 21, 1997 - Vol. 86 Issue 7 - Tyra Banks
Before she annoyed us with her day-time talk show, and thus gave Joel McHale plenty of ammo on The Soup. Appearing in her second most talked about swimsuit.

6. February 12, 1999 - Vol. 90 Issue 6 - Rebecca Romijn
Who can forget the 99 issue, the First Body Paint issue. While Rebecca is sporting cloth, we didn't mind one bit.




5. February 1, 2002 - Vol. 96 Issue 4 - Yamila Diaz-Rahi
Red Hot is definitely the proper title for this Cover as Yamila dazzles in a deep red bikini.



4. February 10, 2004 - Vol. 100 Issue 6 - Veronica Varekova

The first Completely Topless, though covered, SI Swimsuit Cover. Notice, 10 pages of Body painting, how things have changed in 5 years.


3. February 15, 2005 - Vol. 102 Issue 7 - Carolyn Murphy

An interesting year for Murphy, 2005 gave her SI Cover girl status, which may have led to her breakup with Incubus front man Brandon Boyd in August of that year.

2. February 17, 2006 - Vol. 103 Issue 7 - Veronica, Elle, Rebecca, Rachel Hunter, Daniela, Elsa Benitez, Carolyn, and Yamila.
2006 brings us 8 of the hottest SI Cover Girls of the past including 6 of the 8 mentioned in spots 9-3.1. February 01, 2000 - Vol. 91 Issue 4/February 15, 2008 Vol. 107 Issue 7 - Daniela Pestova/Marissa Miller
For some reason the editors at SI decided that 2000's cover with Daniela (left) needed to be done again 8 years later with Marissa Miller (Right)....I have no complaints.

Like I said, there were many others that just missed out on this list, but all I know is every February there will be at least one good magazine on the Rack.