Eastern Eye showbiz editor Asjad Nazir, who puts together the very popular list and is chairman of the judging panel, said despite having the best physique, those voting for Hrithik were impressed by a lot of his other qualities.
"Although guys and girls from different age groups, cultures and countries pushed Hrithik to the top of the list they all pin-pointed different qualities that make him the sexiest man on the planet. Whilst some were impressed by his physique and good looks, others liked that he is humble, a devoted family man, father and hardworking individual.
"This not only makes Hrithik the perfect role model, but the dream man of women around the world and someone men are aspiring to be like. The mass global appeal means it will only be a matter of time before he becomes an even bigger international star," said Nazir.
The list had a massive group of television stars that include Barun Sobti (10), Karan Tacker (11), Gurmeet Choudhary (22), Karan Singh Grover (24), Vivian D'Sena (27) and Ashish Kapoor (28).
A record-breaking year in terms of voting resulted in the list trending across Twitter for a week in India, as well as introducing the highest ever number of newcomers.
"Just like the women's list the massive emergence of the television stars showed that they are catching up fast to the dominant Bollywood heroes and playing a much bigger part in the lives of people. That probably explains why so many film stars are using television to promote their movies. Such is their popularity that it is highly likely a TV star could top the list next year," said Nazir.
The top 20 also included One Direction star Zayn Malik (12), newcomer Varun Dhawan (13), singer Jay Sean (14), actors Akshay Kumar (15), Emraan Hashmi (16) and Imran Khan (17), followed by Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan and Pakistani singer Atif Aslam.
