MAXIM Hot 100 2014

Summer is a time for pools and beaches, barbecues and heat waves, and lots and lots of beautiful celebrities wearing next to nothing.  Yes, the Maxim Hot 100 2014 has come out, and while there are a few changes from last year, it's the same basic, beautiful format as last year.

The Maxim Hot 100 is voted on by Maxim readers, then published in the summer.  Unlike past years, this time around the Hot 100 isn't a separate part of the magazine, but the first half of the month's issue.  As with past years, each winner gets a photo (from a page shared with several others to a two-page spread), brief paragraph about them, and the occasional quote.  ("Trying too hard to be sexy is the worst thing you can do.  Sexiness should be effortless.")  The list is full of singers, actors, models (from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Victoria's Secret), and other celebrities.

 Of course, popularity waxes and wanes, and the Maxim Hot 100 reflects these changes.  Last year four of the top 10 -- including the #1 winner, Miley Cyrus -- were former Disney stars; this year, none of them made the top 10 -- possibly because Spring Breakers isn't as fresh in people's minds -- and Miley drops down to #25.  There are some of the nigh-perpetual selections -- Beyonce, Mila Kunis, Rihanna, Katy Perry -- and no joke entries this time around.  (Sorry, Stephen Colbert.)

The Maxim Hot 100 is beautiful and exciting to its fans, and sexist and superficial to its detractors.  I definitely fall into the former camp.  It's a chance for Maxim fans to voice who they find hot, and to get all the results featured over half the magazine.  Woot!

Written by James Lynch

All hail Maxim's number one: Candice Swanepoel!