Playboy's Sexiest Celebrities

merica has been fascinated by celebrities since the' golden age of the silver screen. Movie stars like Greta Garbo and Jean Harlow became our form of royalty in the 1930s. A celebrity sighting, whether in a magazine or—whoa! —on some city street, inspired awe and wonderment. Celebrities were mysterious and untouchable. They seemed covered in pixie dust. What you didn't know about them was as interesting as what you did know. In recent years, however, the notion of celebrity has changed. Today we are celebrity saturated. There are celebri­ties for celebrity's sake, who can't sing or act. You can't open your eyes without seeing stars on billboards, on the Internet and on Larry King. Their personal lives make prime-time news. Their sex tapes on the web are as quotidian as Dow Jones charts. But one thing hasn't changed: They remain the ava­tars of hotness, sex icons of their age. They command power, money and our attention because they are our fantasies in the flesh. All that said, enough with the cultural criticism. We've picked our favorite celebs for 2009. Kick back and enjoy.