It's that time of year again. The time when the Internet comes together to debate one of the most enduring facets of American culture: the unveiling of People's Sexiest Man Alive. Before the winner was officially revealed, we speculated and sussed out People Magazine's mysterious clues. Would it be Taylor Swift's boyfriend, sometimes known as Kansas City Chiefs' tight end Travis Kelce? Would it be Ken himself, Ryan Gosling? Or maybe the world's favorite reluctant father, The Last of Us and The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal?
On Thursday morning, we finally learned who had been deemed the supreme sexy man: Patrick Dempsey. And the world asked "did you mean to say Pedro Pascal?"
Thankfully, the magazine also allowed the people — not People — to make our voices heard in their Reader's Choice Poll. (This is America after all.) Readers weighed in on categories such as Sexiest TV Star (James Marsden), Sexiest Blockbuster Star (Chris Hemsworth), Sexiest Athlete (Travis Kelce), Sexiest Morning Show Host (Mark Consuelos), Sexiest Grandpa (Pierce Brosnan), Sexiest Funny Guy (Trevor Noah), Sexiest Ken (Gosling), Sexiest New Dad (Tom Hiddleston), Sexiest TikTok Star (Jalen Noble), Sexiest Podcast Host (Taylor Lautner) and, yes, even Sexiest Pedro Pascal (Pedro Pascal).
But there's one more pressing sexy category at hand: Sexiest Musician. Country music's own Tim McGraw competed against Bad Bunny, Future and Harry Styles for the illustrious title. In the end, pop icon and actor Styles was crowned the people's choice for sexiest musical artist. But McGraw can take comfort in knowing that he'll always be the Sexiest Musician in the eyes of his wife Faith Hill — and that's all that really matters.
As for Dempsey, he's just happy this is finally his year. More importantly, he used the platform to boost a cause near to his heart: the Dempsey Foundation, which he founded in honor of his late mother to support cancer patients and their families.
"I'm glad it's happening at this point in my life," he told People. "It's nice to have the recognition, and certainly my ego takes a little bump, but it gives me the platform to use it for something positive."
The Grey's Anatomy and Ferrari star also said that the news came as a complete shock to him.
"I was completely shocked, and then I started laughing, like, this is a joke, right? I've always been the bridesmaid!" he said.
Previous Sexiest Men Alive include The Voice coach John Legend, former The Voice coach and country star Blake Shelton, and actors Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Michael B. Jordan and Idris Elba. See a full list here.
For everyone else, there's always next year.
READ MORE: Tim McGraw Comments on Trump, Political Divisions: 'We're More Alike Than We Are Different'
