Iconic Playboy Covers

The best of Playboy covers
Playboy has launched a subscription service for the iPad, called iPlayboy that will allow users to view more than 130,000 pages of the iconic men's magazine online. In its over 57 years of existence there have been over 600 Playboy covers. Here are the top 10.

December 1953
The very first issue of Playboy had a smiling Marilyn Monroe waving a welcome wave on the cover. "First time in any magazine. The famous Marilyn Monroe nude," the legendary cover proudly proclaimed.

June 1962
Image and caption made for each other. The bikini, the tan on Merissa Mathes' body captured beautifully by photographer Glenn Otto.

May 1964
An 18-year-old Donna Michelle recreated the famous rabbit head logo on the Playboy cover.

October 1971
Darine Stern created modelling history by becoming the first African-American model to be featured on the cover of Playboy. Photographed by Richard Fegley, Stern's pose was recreated 28 years later by Marge Simpson.

November 1972
This cover finds a place in this top 10 list by the virtue that the November 1972 issue of Playboy was its best selling ever. Maybe, there was something about the Swedish model Lena Soderberg, who helped sell over 7 million copies.

July 1990
A sultry Sharon Stone with an ice cube set the temperatures rising. On the inside pages she showed off the toned body that she built for the movie Total Recall.

September 1979
Playboy went out and brought the girls of Ivy League campuses to the pages of the magazine. The September 1979 issue had a newspaper-like look and had a 30-photo spread on the 'Women of the Ivies'.

August 1994
Women in uniform have always appealed to men, more so when it is on Playboy. New York City police officer Carol Shaya controversially posed for the 'NYPD Nude' issue that led to her being fired from her job.

November 1980
Just before Ronald Regan was elected as the President of the United States, Playboy came out with a issue featuring women in the government. Court martial proceedings were initiated against two female US Navy personnel for posing for the issue. They were later honourably discharged from service.

November 2009
While the Playboy Rabbit has appeared on the cover of Playboy, it is Marge Simpson who is credited as being the first cartoon character to feature on the cover of the magazine. Since this was a first for Playboy, Marge's pose on the cover was similar to Darine Stern's, who was the first African-American model to be featured on the cover of Playboy back in October 1971.