Sexiest Man Alive winners: The 32 men who have won the People award from Mel Gibson to John Legend

Mark Harmon, anyone? 
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Margaret Abrams14 November 2019

Congratulations are in order for Chrissy Teigen's husband, John Legend, who has been named People's Sexiest Man Alive.

Teigen has already celebrated accordingly by changing her Twitter bio to "currently sleeping with People's sexiest man alive" and promptly tweeted, "the sexiest man alive just made me a ham sandwich."

To celebrate Legend's legendary win (he's already an EGOT winner, so now his awards shelf truly is complete), we've rounded up some of the most memorable - sexy is for you to decide, dear reader - winners from over the years, from the first ever (spoiler alert: it was a real doozy) to Legend's fellow Voice coaches.

Mel Gibson
AFP/Getty Images

Mel Gibson, 1985

Who could forget People's first ever Sexiest Man Alive? While the publication probably wishes they could, the cover lasts forever. In 1985, a 29-year-old Mel Gibson received the honor. Of course, this was many years before he was accused of going on anti-Semitic and misogynist rants. In fact, it was so long ago, he had yet to star in Braveheart, which came out a decade later. Back in the 80s, he was mostly known for Mad Max.

John F. Kennedy, Jr., 1988

AFP via Getty Images

JFK Jr. was possibly the most deserving winner of the award. Sorry to Blake Shelton.

In the extremely 1980s article, which features plenty of thirst traps of the political progeny, a neighbor describes JFK Jr. by saying "He’s got an extremely good body."

Tom Cruise, 1990

AFP via Getty Images

This was before the Mission Impossible star was most famous for jumping on couches.

Patrick Swayze, 1991

Getty Images

The Dirty Dancing star deserved the honor - I mean, have you seen him lift up Baby?

Nick Nolte, 1992

While this might seem like a surprising choice now, it made sense back in the day, according to People at least. The magazine explained his charm by describing him as a "big-lug Adonis with the heart of gold."

Johnny Depp, 2003 and 2009

Getty Images

He won twice. Armie Hammer has never won at all.

Channing Tatum, 2012

Getty Images

Anyone who has seen Channing Tatum dance to 'Pony' would certainly agree. Unsurprisingly, Magic Mike, his movie about a male stripper with a heart of gold who just wants to do woodworking, came out the same year he won.

Adam Levine, 2013

Getty Images

The Maroon 5 lead singer made the list back in 2013, proving that starring on The Voice is a surefire way to be deemed sexy by American women. Perhaps the show's host Carson Daley should win next year.

Blake Shelton, 2017

When Legend's fellow Voice judge Blake Shelton was voted People Magazine‘s Sexiest Man Alive, he told the magazine, “Y’all must be running out of people." It is a suitable reaction from an Oklahoma fellow who finds it acceptable behavior to wear jeans on the red carpet alongside his real stunner of a GF, Gwen Stefani.

Idris Elba, 2018

Getty Images

In a well-deserved win, Elba took the award home last year. He described his journey to sexiness to the mag, saying, "I got picked on a little bit. But as soon as I could grow a mustache, I was the coolest kid on the block. Grew a mustache, had some muscles, bonkers."

He also poked some fun at the reigning champ. When Legend posted a goofy photo of himself from 1995 Elba responded with a 90s picture of his own - where he looks extra dapper.

Of course, the Cats trailer had yet to come out when Elba's win was announced...

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