Top Mag Covers Past 40 Years

The iconic image above featuring Annie Leibovitz's photograph of Yoko Ono and John Lennon has been ranked the top magazine cover of the last 40 years by The American Society of Magazine Editors; a panel of magazine editors, artists and designers.

New York, Oct. 17 -- On what would be the last day of his life, John Lennon posed for photographs with Yoko Ono in a session with photographer Annie Leibovitz. One of the pictures, a naked Lennon curled around and kissing a clothed Ono, became the cover for Rolling Stone magazine's tribute to him, published a month after his December 1980 death . -- Associated Press.

Other covers on the list include The New Yorker from September 24, 2001, silhouettes of the World Trade Center towers against a black background; the famous National Geographic's June 1985 cover of an Afghan refugee girl with haunted eyes; People magazine's cover from September 15, 1997 -- a black-and-white portrait of a smiling Princess Diana; and Life magazine's image of man on the moon from 1969. The Top 10 covers included titles:

1. Rolling Stone, Jan. 22, 1981, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
2. Vanity Fair, August 1991, Demi Moore.
3. Esquire, April 1968, Muhammad Ali.
4. The New Yorker, March 29, 1976, Saul Steinberg drawing of Manhattan.
5. Esquire, May 1969, Andy Warhol.
6. The New Yorker, Sept. 24, 2001, Illustration of World Trade Center.
7. National Lampoon, January 1973, "If You Don't Buy This Magazine, We'll Kill This Dog."
8. Esquire, October 1966, "Oh my god -- we hit a little girl."
9. Harper's Bazaar, September 1992, "Enter the Era of Elegance."
10. National Geographic, June 1985, Afghan refugee.

Take a look at the other covers to have an idea (check out title no#7). Awesome stuff.
Link.