List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models

Tyra Banks was the first African-American swimsuit issue cover model.

List of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover models enumerates the chronological history of cover models for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has grown from being an issue of Sports Illustrated magazine created just to creatively fill space at a time of year with little sports news into a major marketing franchise that includes a special separate issue, a website, television specials, calendars, books and enormous amounts of advertising. It began as a short photo spread of women in bathing suits and has become a fashion issue for beachwear worn by the world's top models. Being the subject of the Sports Illustrated magazine cover is a well chronicled event which has both become a measure by which fame is measured and a status which is supposedly accompanied by a curse known as the "SI Jinx".^[1] There seems to have been no reports of any association of the SI Jinx with the swimsuit issue.

The media considers being the cover person for Sports Illustrated an important career statistic for notable persons and keeps track of cover appearance counts with Michael Jordan having taken over the leadership from Muhammad Ali.^[2][3] In the internet era, Time Warner had to create a dedicated web page for Sport Illustrated cover research.^[4]

First cover (1964)

There is a lot of public interest in who is on the cover of fashion magazines with websites dedicated to the subject.^[5] For supermodels being on the cover of important magazines is a matter of prestige and achieving the cover of Sports Illustrated's annual swimsuit edition is quite a celebrated highlight.^[6] It is especially noteworthy if a cover model is fortunate enough to have a solo cover appearance.^[7] The unveiling of the swimsuit issue cover and its model is a media event,^[8] widely reported in the press.^[9]

For many the mere sight of bronzed bathing beauties on the cover of a sports magazine is quite a moral issue. The issue generates numerous letters from readers both in support and in opposition of the issue each year. Numerous subscribers cancel subscriptions as a matter of propriety annually. Recently, Time Warner took action to avoid many of the complainants by withholding the Swimsuit issue from certain types of recipients, such as libraries and schools.^[10]

Numerous types of trivia and statistics are monitored regarding the swimsuit issue cover subjects. Several have gone on to subsequent success in Hollywood.^[11] Others have become the spouses of notable celebrities.^[11] The following list is a list of models chosen as subjects for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover, incorporating some related statistics and trivia.

List of covers

Issue [12]	Name (appearance)	Nationality	Notes
1964-01-20[13]	Babette March
1965-01-18[14]	Sue Peterson	United States
1966-01-17[15]	Sunny Bippus
1967-01-16[16]	Marilyn Tindall
1968-01-15[17]	Turia Mau	France
1969-01-13[18]	Jamee Becker
1970-01-12[19]	Cheryl Tiegs	United States
1971-02-01[20]	Tannia Rubiano
1972-01-17[21]	Shelia Roscoe
1973-01-29[22]	Dayle Haddon	Canada
1974-01-28[23]	Ann Simonton
1975-01-27[24]	Cheryl Tiegs (2)	United States	first repeat cover model
1976-01-19[25]	Yvette Sylvander Yvonne Sylvander		first multi-subject cover.
1977-01-24[26]	Lena Kansbod
1978-01-16[27]	Maria Joao	Brazil	most cancellations (340),[28] most letters regarding a cover (2947)[11]
1979-02-05[29]	Christie Brinkley	United States
1980-02-04[30]	Christie Brinkley (2)	United States
1981-02-09[31]	Christie Brinkley (3)	United States	first three-time cover model
1982-02-08[32]	Carol Alt	United States
1983-02-14[33]	Cheryl Tiegs (3)	United States
1984-02-13[34]	Paulina Porizkova	Czechoslovakia	Paulina Porizkova was the youngest Swimsuit Issue cover model at age 18.[35]
1985-02-11[36]	Paulina Porizkova (2)	Czechoslovakia
1986-02-10[37]	Elle Macpherson	Australia
1987-02-09[38]	Elle Macpherson (2)	Australia
1988-02-15[39]	Elle Macpherson (3)	Australia
1989-02-07[40]	Kathy Ireland	United States	Best selling swimsuit issue,[11] 25th anniversary
1990-02-12[41]	Judit Masco	Spain
1991-02-11[42]	Ashley (Richardson) Montana	United States
1992-03-09[43]	Kathy Ireland (2)	United States
1993-02-22[44]	Vendela Kirsebom	Sweden
1994-02-14[45]	Kathy Ireland (3) Elle Macpherson (4) Rachel Hunter	United States  Australia  New Zealand	pregnant cover models (Ireland Hunter),[11] first four-time cover model
1995-02-20[46]	Daniela Pestova	Czech Republic
1996-01-29[47]	Valeria Mazza Tyra Banks	Argentina  United States	first African-American cover model
1997-02-21[48]	Tyra Banks (2)	United States	first dedicated special issue[28], first African-American solo cover model.[7][49]
1998-02-20[50]	Heidi Klum	Germany
1999-02-12[51]	Rebecca Romijn	United States
2000-02-01[52]	Daniela Pestova (2)	Czech Republic
2001-02-01[53]	Elsa Benitez	Mexico
2002-02-01[54]	Yamila Diaz	Argentina
2003-02-18[55]	Petra Němcová	Czech Republic
2004-02-10[56]	Veronica Vařeková inset Anna Kournikova	Czech Republic  Russia	40th anniversary
2005-02-15[57]	Carolyn Murphy inset Jessica White, Marisa Miller, Yamila Diaz	United States  United States,  United States,  Argentina
2006-02-17[58]	Veronica Vařeková (2) Elle Macpherson (5) Rebecca Romijn (2) Rachel Hunter (2) Daniela Pestova (3) Elsa Benitez (2) Carolyn Murphy (2) Yamila Diaz (2) inset Heidi Klum, Maria Sharapova	Czech Republic  Australia  United States  New Zealand  Czech Republic  Mexico  United States  Argentina inset  Germany,  Russia	McPherson’s record 5th cover
2007-02-15[59]	Beyoncé Knowles inset Bar Refaeli	United States  Israel	First non-model/non-athlete; 2nd African-American
2008-02-12[60]	Marisa Miller	United States
2009-02-10[61]	Bar Refaeli inset Brooklyn Decker	Israel  United States

Notes