Who, as of 2019, has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated the most times?

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media franchise owned by Time Inc., and it currently has about 3 million subscribers. Thus, to keep subscribers and to attract buyers, Michael Jordan has been pictured on the front cover of Sports Illustrated a record 50 times. He is number one because his appearance on the cover of this magazine has occurred more times than anyone else. Muhammad Ali is ranked number two; and, Tiger Woods is the third person to have been seen on the magazine's cover page. Currently, ranked at number seven is football player, Tom Brady.

Specifically, the stated goal of Sports Illustrated is to be a magazine concerned basically about athletes and sports. Now, because spectator sports in the United States have a very great popularity, it has been said several times that Sports Illustrated's popularity has been driven largely by three things: U.S. economic prosperity, television, and the people at Sports Illustrated. Any personality featured on the cover page is helping the magazine to reach its stated goal.