Iceland is famous for volcanoes, glaciers, waterfalls and producing an unreasonable number of attractive people for a country with a population smaller than many European cities.
So, naturally, someone had to make a list.
This list is based on a highly scientific formula involving looks, charisma, talent, cultural relevance and whether someone's appearance has ever caused people to briefly forget what they were talking about.
Naturally, beauty is subjective. But some cases are harder to argue with than others.
Here are our top 10.
10. Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir
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Model, beauty queen and proof that Icelandic beauty has never come in just one form.
Birta Abiba Þórhallsdóttir made history when she became Miss Universe Iceland in 2019, becoming Iceland's first woman of mixed Icelandic and African heritage to win the title. She then represented Iceland at Miss Universe and made the global top 10.
Birta, who has Icelandic and Congolese heritage, has also spoken openly about growing up mixed-race in Iceland and wanting to become the kind of representation she wished she had seen as a child.
Since then, she has continued modelling internationally, including campaigns for major global brands.
In other words: Iceland sent her to a competition against some of the most beautiful women on Earth and she finished in the top ten.
That seems like fairly solid evidence.
9. Aníta Briem
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Hollywood glamour, but with a Reykjavík postcode.
Aníta Briem has been flying the Icelandic flag on international screens for years, with roles including Jane Seymour in The Tudors and Hannah in Journey to the Center of the Earth. She later returned to Iceland and has continued working extensively in Icelandic film and television.
And somehow, more than two decades into her career, she appears to have reached an agreement with time that the rest of us were not invited to negotiate.
Aníta also has serious competition in the unfairly strong category of beautiful Icelandic actresses. There's Heida Reed, known internationally from Poldark, and Hera Hilmar, whose credits range from acclaimed Icelandic films to major international productions.
Icelandic drama schools seem to have two requirements: be able to act and make the rest of Europe feel genetically inadequate.
Still, Aníta gets our spot.
8. Friðrik Dór
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The voice of an angel. The lyrics of a man who knows exactly what he's doing.
There are singers who perform love songs, and then there is Friðrik Dór, who has spent much of his career trying to destroy Icelandic emotional stability one romantic chorus at a time.
Smooth voice? Check.
Heart-melting lyrics? Check.
The ability to make an entire room quietly reconsider at least one past relationship before the chorus is even over? Absolutely.
And then there's his brother Jón Jónsson, another of Iceland's best-known pop singers. The two brothers have spent years simultaneously occupying the Icelandic charts and proving that one musical, annoyingly photogenic son wasn't enough for their family.
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They are also members of the spectacularly named Icelandic group IceGuys.
Choosing between Friðrik and Jón is difficult.
We chose Friðrik.
Jón can file an appeal.
7. Páll Óskar
Pop icon. LGBTQ+ icon. Human disco ball. Apparently immortal.
Páll Óskar has been one of Iceland's most recognisable entertainers for decades, and yet every year he somehow emerges looking as though ageing was merely an optional software update he declined.
But Páll Óskar's appeal has never just been about looks.
Openly gay since the late 1980s, he has spent decades using his public profile to stand up for the LGBTQ+ community, equality and human rights. He has never been particularly interested in staying quiet when something matters.
Then there are the outfits.
Most people wear sequins.
Páll Óskar appears to command them.
Somewhere between the music, confidence, activism, extravagant performances and suspicious refusal to age normally, he has become less of a pop star and more of a national institution.
Iceland only has one Páll Óskar.
That is probably enough power for one country.
6. Elín Hall
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Actress. Musician. Red-haired reminder of Iceland's Celtic side.
Elín Hall has a very specific Reykjavík kind of cool, with striking red hair, understated style and the sort of presence that makes her stand out without seeming to try.
Her look is also a nice reminder that Icelandic heritage is not purely Nordic. Iceland has deep historical ties to the Celtic world, particularly through settlers and enslaved people brought from Ireland and the British Isles during the Viking Age, and Elín's red-haired look feels like a fitting nod to that lesser-discussed side of Icelandic history.
Her international profile jumped after starring in Rúnar Rúnarsson's When the Light Breaks. The film premiered at Cannes, where Elín also attracted plenty of attention for her red-carpet appearances.
She can move from an alternative Reykjavík music venue to an international film festival without either environment looking remotely unnatural.
That range is dangerous.
5. Hildur Björnsdóttir
Photo: from her personal website
The mayor has entered the chat.
Hildur Björnsdóttir became Mayor of Reykjavík in 2026, instantly giving Iceland one of its strongest-ever arguments for paying attention to municipal politics.
Stylish, polished and extremely composed, Hildur has the kind of look that suggests she could chair a difficult council meeting, answer seventeen hostile questions from journalists and still somehow emerge without a single hair having moved.
There is also something inherently impressive about being attractive while dealing with municipal budgets.
Models have photographers.
Actors have lighting crews.
Hildur has Reykjavík City Council.
Different level of difficulty.
4. Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir
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Fast enough that you probably couldn't catch her anyway.
Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir is one of Iceland's leading female football stars and one of the country's most exciting sporting personalities.
Born in Keflavík to an Icelandic father and Ghanaian mother, Sveindís has spoken proudly about her mixed heritage and representing both sides of her background.
After establishing herself at the highest level of European football, she took her career to the United States with Angel City FC in Los Angeles.
She combines world-class athleticism, confidence and one of the most recognisable profiles in Icelandic women's sport.
Also, she is extremely fast.
Which is useful, because after putting her on a list ranking people's attractiveness, running away may become necessary.
3. Viktor Gísli Hallgrímsson
Photo: Sven Mandel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Two metres of evidence that handball deserves a larger international audience.
The Icelandic men's handball team creates a serious problem for any list like this because there are simply too many candidates.
Gísli Þorgeir Kristjánsson has the blond hair, athletic build, intensity and superstar aura. He could easily have made the list himself.
But our choice is goalkeeper Viktor Gísli Hallgrímsson.
Viktor stands 204 centimetres tall, plays goalkeeper for Barcelona and has established himself among Europe's elite.
He also has the inconvenient combination of being enormous, athletic and blessed with a smile that has inspired more than a few jokes in Icelandic media.
The competition inside Iceland's national handball team is therefore brutal.
Not merely for starting positions, but for spots on this list too.
Viktor wins this round.
Gísli Þorgeir remains extremely unlucky to have been born into the same generation of Icelandic handball players.
2. Kristrún Frostadóttir
Yes, the Prime Minister is on the sexy list. Democracy is beautiful.
When Kristrún Frostadóttir became Prime Minister at 36, she became Iceland's youngest-ever prime minister and, at the time, the world's youngest serving head of government.
Her appeal is less red carpet and more competence, confidence and the ability to explain economic policy while somehow remaining extremely photogenic.
There is something objectively intimidating about someone who can discuss inflation, negotiate coalition politics and look camera-ready at the same time.
Most of us struggle to look presentable after answering three emails.
Kristrún runs Iceland.
Second place.
1. Rúrik Gíslason
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Come on. Who else was it going to be?
There are subjective choices on this list.
Then there is Rúrik Gíslason.
At the 2018 World Cup, Rúrik was shown on television during Iceland's match against Argentina and promptly became an international internet phenomenon. His social-media following exploded, #SexyRurik spread online and international media suddenly discovered a passionate interest in Icelandic football.
Imagine training your entire life to reach the World Cup, only for millions of people to respond:
"Excellent football. But who is THAT?"
Since retiring from professional football, Rúrik has moved into entertainment, modelling and business while maintaining a huge following abroad.
He even joined IceGuys alongside Friðrik Dór and Jón Jónsson, because Iceland decided its most photogenic men needed to be assembled into one group for logistical reasons.
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Rúrik has the hair.
The beard.
The footballer physique.
The smile.
And the rare cross-demographic appeal that makes women stare, men nod respectfully, and even straight guys admit:
"Yeah. Fair enough."
There was never really a competition.
Rúrik Gíslason is our Sexiest Icelander of 2026.
Again.
Probably forever.
Disagree? Good.
This is the part where you tell us we got it wrong.
Who did we miss? Who has no business being on here? Drop your own ranking in the comments, and tell us the one name you can't believe we left out.
We're already braced for the Jón Jónsson campaign.
Guide to Iceland Editorials is the shared byline for our content team. We use it on pieces several people worked on together, where no single writer owns the article, and on anything rewritten often enough that a personal byline would be misleading.
Everything published under it is researched and reviewed by people who live and work in Iceland. If you spot something out of date or want to suggest a correction, message us and it reaches the whole team.
