SI Swimsuit Issue 2013: Kate Upton Cover and Body Paint Photo Early Highlights

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Breaking news! Kate Upton is gorgeous, buzz-worthy and pretty much the hottest model on the face of the planet.

In other words, you can hardly blame Sports Illustrated for once again putting her on the cover of the Swimsuit Edition and making one of the photos it leaked an incredibly sexy number with Upton only "wearing" a bikini crafted from body paint.

Seriously, you should really click that link. As if the notion of Upton only wearing body paint isn't enticing enough, the fact that she's barely been painted at all should do the trick.

And in case you've been living under a rock and haven't yet seen the cover, here you go:

POLAR BARE: @kateupton in Antarctica is your 2013 SI Swimsuit Cover Model! bit.ly/UMdgck #WhereISwim twitter.com/SI_Swimsuit/st…
— SI Swimsuit (@SI_Swimsuit) February 9, 2013

Cold is the new hot. I'll bet that's what they're saying on Madison Avenue, in French, after seeing this cover.

Le froid est le tout nouveau. Merci à Dieu pour Google Translate.

Upton is such a hot name right now, she beat out Katherine Webb—you remember Ms. Webb, I'm sure—and Derek Jeter's girlfriend, Hannah Davis, for this cover. Oh, and she also beat out a slew of other unbelievably beautiful women that will appear in the magazine.

Is she the Lionel Messi of modeling? No, not yet. I'd say she's the LeBron James of modeling, however.

It's no secret that all of the early buzz surrounding this issue involves Upton. It seems like she's everywhere these days—commercials, magazine shoots, NBA arenas, etc. She's the new Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks or Gisele of the modeling world.

Honestly, if I were a company that had a ton of money to blow and needed to ensure that people paid attention to my product, I would try to bring Upton on board. Her Mercedes-Benz ad, released online before the Super Bowl, has over eight million views.

There isn't anybody out there hotter right now than Upton, no matter how you look at it. Sports Illustrated was wise to once again make this the Upton Issue.