Nude, nude, nude: The most talked-about naked celebrity magazine covers of 2014

If you want to sell magazines, put a naked celebrity on the cover.
That appears to be the lesson many magazine publishers learned in 2014.
What follows are the most talked-about covers that featured naked celebs last year.

Kim Kardashian, Paper, Winter 2014

Kim Kardashian’s naked photo shoot for Paper magazine was designed to “break the Internet.”
It didn’t accomplish that goal, but it certainly lit up social media and mainstream media and was ruthlessly mocked by comedians everywhere.
Kardashian also posed naked for the October 2014 issue of British GQ.

Miranda Kerr, British GQ, May 2014

Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr posed nude for photographer Mario Testino for British GQ. The sexy photo shoot got a lot of people hot and bothered.
Australian parody duo Bondi Hipsters poked fun at the Kerr photo spread by doing one of their own.

Rihanna, Lui, April 2014

Pop singer Rihanna posed topless on the cover of French magazine Lui and did a naked photo spread inside.
She feuded with Instagram when the photo-sharing service banned the topless photos she posted from the magazine. Her fight with Instagram was one of the most high-profile fights with the service over its anti-nudity policy.
RiRi’s fight plays into what has become known as the “Free the Nipple” campaign.
(See articles on the Huffington Post, TMZ, Jezebel, Hollywood Life and Global Grind.)
Rihanna likes getting naked. She also posed naked for the May 2014 issue of Vogue Brazil.

Giselle Bundchen, Lui, May 2014

Classy French skin mag Lui also snagged supermodel Giselle Bundchen for a nude photo shoot. Bundchen was naked on the May issue of the magazine.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Rolling Stone; April 24, 2014

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus posed naked on the April 24, 2014, cover of Rolling Stone. The magazine boasted that she wore “absolutely nothing but the immortal words of America’s founding fathers.” She sported a fake back tattoo of the U.S. Constitution.
But readers noticed a glaring error in the tattoo: It featured the signature of founding father John Hancock, who didn’t sign the Constitution. His big signature was on the Declaration of Independence. (See article by the Huffington Post.)

Neil Patrick Harris, Rolling Stone; May 22, 2014

Actor Neil Patrick Harris was on the cover of the May 22, 2014, issue of Rolling Stone wearing only a bowtie and a top hat covering his genitals.
It was too much for a Barnes & Noble in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., which covered the bottom half of the magazine, Jim Romenesko reported.
(See other articles by Entertainment Weekly and the Huffington Post.)

Prince Fielder, ESPN, July 2014

The ESPN annual Body Issue featured a host of professional athletes in the buff, but it was cover model and baseball great Prince Fielder who stole the show.
(See articles by Business Insider, the Daily Beast and 11 Alive.)

Emily Ratajkowski, GQ, July 2014

Model and actress Emily Ratajkowski appeared topless, but covered by a white flower lei, on the cover of the July 2014 issue of GQ.
Retailer Lands’ End gave out the issue for free to its customers. But some of them took offense at the risque cover, the New York Times reported.

Zoe Saldana, Women’s Health U.K., September 2014

Actress Zoe Saldana took it all off for the cover and an article in Women’s Health U.K.
(See article in TooFab.)