The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition Since 1964!

December 1st, 2017 | Updated on April 4th, 2023

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue has made a name for itself in sports, fashion, publishing and pop culture around the globe.

The first SI Swimsuit Edition hit newsstands on Jan. 20, 1964. The original edition was actually just a eight-page supplement, featuring Babette March looking like America’s prettiest girl next door in a conservative white two-piece, posed in the surf, water up to her knees and messy brown hair soaked through.

The next year, the cover projected a similarly tame aesthetic, with Sue Peterson admirably filling out a black one-piece with red straps and cutouts at the waist. Things got a little more suggestive in 1966, when Sunny Bippus wore a low-cut red floral bikini.

Reclining in the water with her face in profile, eyes closed and arm raised above her head, she smiled as if she was having all of the fun anyone has ever had at the beach.

The swimsuit edition became a stand-alone issue for Sports Illustrated in 1997 and has become one of Time Inc.’s biggest revenue drivers over the years.

In a world flooded with celebrity crotch-shots and half-naked selfies, where pornography is not only readily available online but also serves as the linchpin for mainstream advertising campaigns, does the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue even matter anymore?, asks Newsweek.

The answer is YES!!!!!! The iconic compendium of sexy models lounging on yachts and booty touching on exotic beaches generates around seven percent of SI’s annual revenue, according to Forbes.

It’s also one of Time Inc.’s most profitable ventures, raking in more than $1 billion over the years and reaching a global audience of more than 70 million.

The photos from beyond-beautiful locales are shot by leading photographers such as Walter Iooss Jr. and Raphael Mazzucco and published like works of (modestly erotic) art.

Sex has always sold and always will, even if looking at barely-there-bikini-clad beauties now seems a little last-century

Here is a look back at every cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, dating back to Babette March in 1964:

1. Kate Upton 2017