Gilles Bensimon for Maxim
scored the no. 1 spot on Maxim's Hot 100 List.
The magazine announced the news on Thursday and debuted the cover for its July/August issue, which features the 25-year-old model on the front.
"You know, I work really hard on myself: on feeling good, working out, being strong," she told the publication. "Being number one on the Hot 100 is a little reward for all of the hard work."
Upton joins a star-studded list of Hot 100 honorees. topped the list last year and Stella Maxwell and landed the no. 1 spot in 2016 and 2015, respectively.
The magazine will reveal the rest of the 2018 honorees in the coming days.
"Our annual Hot 100 issue is about so much more than physical beauty, although this year's nominees have that in spades," Robert Price, Chief Operating Officer for Maxim, said in a statement. "Now more than ever, we need to celebrate smart, powerful women who are breaking boundaries, shattering glass ceilings and showing us what is possible—none more so than our incredibly talented cover star, Kate Upton."
According to the magazine, Upton was discovered at the age of 12 while she was leaving a horse show in Florida.
"I was a horseback rider, so growing up around the barn, you don't really think of yourself being in the fashion industry," she told Maxim.
Ever since then, she's become one of the industry's top supermodels. She's even covered the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue three times.
Upton turns 26 on June 10, and it certainly has been an eventful year for the celeb—one filled with highs and lows.
In December, she wed Justin Verlander at Rosewood Castiglion Del Bosco resort in Tuscany. The big day came just a few months after the Houston Astros pitcher and his team won the World Series, beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7.
"I got to marry my best friend," she told the magazine. "He's an amazing man. He's so supportive and focused and motivated, and he inspires me every day. I'm so very lucky that he's my husband."
Then, in February, the supermodel accused Guess cofounder Paul Marciano of sexual harassment. Marciano denied the allegations.
In addition, the magazine wrote Upton launched a 12-week fitness program and is continuing to explore acting opportunities. She's already appeared in The Other Woman and The Layover.
"It's not an easy industry, and it's very easy for someone like me to be typecast," she told Maxim. "I definitely don't want to play the same role over and over again. I'm really waiting for my role that I'm able to be the best in."
To read more about Upton and her career, check out Maxim.com.