ASME's Top 40 Best Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years:

January 22, 1981

The Rolling Stone cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono was named the top magazine cover to appear since 1965. The image was photographed by renowned celebrity portraitist Annie Leibovitz mere hours before Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980. The photo was eventually used on the cover of Rolling Stones tribute issue to Lennon on January 22, 1981.