Take a look at some of the most iconic magazine covers of all time.
1. Muhammad Ali – GQ, 1999
Being named athlete of the century is a huge honor, and the magazine gave the greatest the honor.
2. Darine Stern – Playboy, 1971
Darine was the first woman to be featured on Playboy magazine by herself.
3. Martin Luther King, Jr. – Time, 1964
MLK became the first African American to be named the illustrious magazine’s man of the year.
4. Serena Williams – ESPN, 2009
Williams bared all for the magazine’s body issue, and it caused a bit of controversy.
5. Kanye West – Rolling Stone, 2006
Anytime you dress up like Jesus for the world to see, you’re going to stir some trouble.
6. Muhammad Ali – Esquire, 1968
The controversial cover came about when Ali refused military service to fight in the Vietnam War after he converted to Islam.
7. Katiti Kirande – Glamour, 1968
Kirande was the first African American to be featured on a major women’s magazine.
8. Barack Obama – Time, 2008
Obama was Time’s person of the year after winning the historical 2008 presidential election.
9. Haile Selassie – Time, 1936
Ethiopia’s emperor was the first black man to be Tim’e Person of the Year.
10. Michael Jackson – Rolling Stone, 1971
The caption says it all. The world caught a glimpse into little Michael Jackson’s life as being the lead of one of the biggest boy bands though his childhood appeared to be missing.
11. Renauld White – GQ, 1979
White was the first African-American on GQ
12. Naomi Sims – Ladies’ Home Journal, 1968
Model Naomi Sims became the first black woman to be featured on the women’s magazine.
13. Urs Althaus – GQ, 1977
He was the first black man (Althaus is Swiss-born) to be on the cover of GQ.
14. Naomi Sims – Life, 1969
This is another first for Sims. She became the first black woman to cover Life.
15. Janet Jackson – Rolling Stone, 1993
Janet shed more than her good girl image on this cover.
16. Michelle Obama – Vogue, 2009
She was the only second First Lady to get the cover of Vogue (Hillary Clinton was the first in 1998).
17. Tyra Banks – Sports Illustrated, 1997
Tyra became the first model to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated alongside Valeria Mazza in 1996, but she nabbed the cover solo the following year.
18. Donyale Luna – Vogue, 1966
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Model Donyale Luna became the first black woman to cover Vogue. Vogue decided to cover Luna’s face because they felt it would scare readers from buying the issue. They didn’t feature an entire black woman’s face until Beverly Johnson in 1974.
19. O.J. Simpson – Time, 1994
The O.J. Simpson murder case was one of the most high profile cases in history, and Time played into it by featuring his mugshot on their cover. They also darkened his picture to play on race.
20. Beverly Johnson – Vogue, 1974
Johnson was the first black woman to show her entire face on the cover of Vogue.
21. Tyra Banks – GQ, 1999
Another first for Tyra as she was the first African American woman to cover Gentleman’s Quarterly.
22. LeBron James – Vogue, 2008
LeBron James was the first African American male on Vogue. The cover caused a lot of controversy because it looked as though he was portraying as King Kong
23. Beyonce – Sports Illustrated, 2007
Beyonce became the first non-athlete and non-model to cover the magazine for their swimsuit issue.
24. LaToya Jackson – Playboy, 1989
Seeing a Jackson on the cover of Playboy is surprising, but she’s been on the cover 24 times in 15 countries.
25. Tiger Woods – Vanity Fair, 2010
This cover came out right before his scandal, but it was the first time we saw the golfer stripped down.
