The New A-List Cover Girl?

Jacob Bernstein of The Daily Beast noticed that magazine covers are trending away from your traditional mega celebrity.

Glamour's recent cover is not Angelina Jolie or Julia Roberts. It's three relatively unknown models, one of whom is plus size. Vanity Fair has two World Cup athletes.



And the celebrity covers that do sell feature a younger, less established star. As Glamour’s editor Cindi Leive told The Daily Beast:

“I think what you’re seeing in the magazine world is a certain amount of fatigue with the same old, same old faces. One reason we had a nice sale with Taylor Swift was that you hadn’t seen her on a million magazine covers before and there was actually the hope that ‘Oh my God! I might actually learn something new.’ I think taking risks is serving people well right now.”

One magazine expert explains this trend due to the long, exhaustive coverage of these A-listers.

Or as Samir Husni, the magazine industry pundit, put it, “What else do you really want to know about Angelina Jolie? With a lot of these celebrities, there’s nothing left to show unless they actually take their clothes off. We’ve covered them from every shape, every corner. We’ve shown them with their kids, and with their boyfriends and with their girlfriends, so that’s why you’re starting to see semi-naked soccer players and a semi-naked Tiger Woods. That’s what it takes to survive in a digital age.”

With the exception of Sarah Jessica Parker, whose rabid SATC fan base isn't going anywhere, and Sarah Bullock, whose tabloid-stained marriage has everyone talking, most of the selling power has a teen following. Especially if they're associated with the Disney powerhouse or their franchise rhymes with "highlight."

As Leive says, “There is no editor who wouldn’t love to have [Sandra Bullock] on her next cover. She’s a quality actress and an amazing person but obviously the reasons for feeling your readers would relate to [her] are more complicated than that. Just being in a blockbuster movie is not enough anymore, unless it’s a movie about vampires. Then it’s enough.”

Do you agree, Edsters? Which celebrities inspired you to buy a magazine at the newsstand recently?