25 Girls You Were Crushing On in 1997

Much like with wine, some years, the selection of sexy female celebs is just better than others. And if you ask us, one year in particular that stands out is 1997, an incredible year that introduced us to such gorgeous gals as Shania Twain, Jewel, and even Rollergirl herself, Heather Graham.

So while the women of today are certainly hot, take a stroll down memory lane and reminisce about some of your biggest celebrity crushes of 1997.

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TV show: Monday Night Raw

Toward the end of the '90s, the WWF, now the WWE, was hellbent on producing the edgiest professional wrestling product they could. The industry was as hot as it's ever been and ratings were at an all time high. Vince McMahon and company had top level stars like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock on its roster, but the hottest star wasn't either of the two. Sable, whose real life name is Rena Mero, burst onto the wrestling scene in 1997 and took the world by storm. Every week, this blonde bombshell would hit the squared circle and wow fans with what she was, or in many cases wasn't, wearing.

Movie: Chasing Amy

In the Kevin Smith-helmed Chasing Amy, the ridiculously underrated Joey Lauren Adams played Alyssa Jones, a gorgeous lesbian who temporarily changes teams once she falls in love with Ben Affleck's Holden McNeil. The film, which we think is Smith's best, was both an unlikely box office smash and a critical darling. Since her raw and gripping performance was widely regarded as a breakthrough role, many assumed that Lauren Adams' was en route to major Hollywood stardom. We'd love to see a comeback.

Movie: Boogie Nights

No matter how many movies she stars in, the beautifully doe-eyed Heather Graham will always be Rollergirl to us. In 1997, though she had already been acting for a decade-plus, Heather rollerskated into our hearts in Paul Thomas Anderson' classic film about the golden age of the adult film industry.

Album: Secrets

Petite R&B princess Toni Braxton released what are arguably her two biggest singles ever in '97, those hits being "Unbreak My Heart" and "You're Making Me High," both of which went to no. 1 on the Billboard 100.

Movies and TV show: Scream 2, I Know What You Did Last Summer & Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Of all the women on this list, Sarah Michelle Gellar may have had the biggest year. It was then that Gellar first starred in the series that made her a household name, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But Sarah Michelle didn't just set her sights on the small screen. That year, she also starred in two big slasher films, Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Album: Tidal

Following the release of Tidal, her 1996 debut studio album, indie songstress Fiona Apple had a big year in '97. Fueled largely in part by her first single, "Criminal," Apple took home the Best New Artist award at both the year's Billboard Music Awards and the VMAs.

Movie and TV show: Scream 2 & Party of Five

Neve Campbell may have never been hotter than she was in '97. That year, she not only played Julia Salinger on Fox's hit series Party of Five, but she also starred in the highly-anticipated sequel to Scream. Men all over the world were wishing that they, along with Neve, could have a party of two, but, sadly, wound up looking at her pictures and having a party of one.

Album: Come on Over

Fueled by the success of hit singles like "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" and "That Don't Impress Me Much", Canadian country singer Shania Twain achieved massive crossover success in the pop music world. Shania, who had Playboy playmate good looks, was an instant music video superstar.

Movie: Alien Resurrection

In 1997, Winona Ryder, who's perhaps the quintessential 1990s crush, starred alongside Sigourney Weaver in Alien Resurrection, the fourth installment in the popular Alien franchise.

TV show: Jenny

After years of hosting MTV's Singled Out, which, by the way, we totally think should make a comeback, former Playboy Playmate of the Year Jenny McCarthy was given her very own sitcom. The series, Jenny, aired on NBC and lasted only 17 episodes. That same year, McCarthy once again graced the pages of Playboy, this time in an issue that featured both her and Pamela Anderson.

Movie and album: Spiceworld

Geri "Ginger Spice" Halliwell was globally regarded as one of the hottest celebrities in the world at the tail end of the '90s. Along with her chart-topping girlfriends, The Spice Girls were seemingly everywhere that year. They released both an album and a feature film in this year, both of which did big business. Yep, you read that correctly. Spiceworld, The Spice Girls' feature film, was a box office success.

Movie: Batman & Robin

Still riding a wave of popularity after her career-making performance in 1995's Clueless, in 1997 the adorable Alicia Silverstone donned a leather bodysuit and a cape for Batman & Robin. And while Alicia looked incredible playing Batgirl, the film is widely regarded as the worst Batman film of all time. Although, we must admit, Arnold Schwarzenegger 's awful acting as Mr. Freeze is pretty damn entertaining in a "so bad it's good" kind of way.

Album: The Firm

Following the release Ill Na Na, her 1996 debut album, 1997 saw sexy, sharp-tongued NYC rapper Foxy Brown join fellow artists Nas, AZ and Nature to form a supergroup known as The Firm. The group's first and only album was released in October of that year to rave reviews. It entered the Billboard 200 album chart at no. 1, selling over half a million records in its first week.

Album: Pieces of You

Still riding the wave of success sparked by her debut album, which was released two years prior, the underrated Jewel had an eventful awards season. That year, Jewel, an adorable folk singer/poet/pro-yodeler, was nominated for American Music Awards, Grammy Awards, Billboard Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards, where her video for "You Were Meant For Me" earned her a moonman in the Best Female Video category.

TV show: The X-Files

On Fox's now legendary sci-fi series, The X-Files, Gillian Anderson played Detective Dana Scully, a character that fans at Comic Con still obsess over to this day. This red-haired beauty tracked paranormal activity for nine captivating seasons.

Movie: Inventing the Abbotts

After starring in the hit films Empire Records and That Thing You Do! the previous two years, Liv Tyler, the wildly sexy daughter or Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, starred alongside Joaquin Phoenix and Billy Crudup in the Ron Howard produced Inventing the Abbotts, a romantic film about two bros trying to win the hearts of three sisters.

Movie and album: Spiceworld

1997 saw the release of Spiceworld, the first, and sadly only, feature film starring The Spice Girls. And while the film shockingly didn't win any Oscars at that year's Academy Awards, Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, did look absolutely adorable on the silver screen.

Movie: Batman & Robin

Uma, Uma, Uma. In the unfortunately craptastic Batman & Robin, this stunning actress played the villainous Poison Ivy. Uma's sexy portrayal of the character was one of the film's few saving graces. In fact, Uma's rendition of Poison Ivy is routinely still used as a go-to sexy Halloween costume for ladies to this day.

Movies: A Life Less Ordinary & My Best Friend's Wedding

In the mid '90s, before she was a bona fide Hollywood megastar, feisty funnywoman Cameron Diaz was busy building her career by starring in romantic comedies like 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding and A Life Less Ordinary.

Album: Tragic Kingdom

Though Tragic Kingdom, the album that essentially made them famous, was actually released in 1995, it wasn't until 1997 that Gwen Stefani and the boys of No Doubt officially got the recognition that they deserved. The group, led by Stefani, arguably the sexiest frontwoman in the history of rock, were nominated for two Grammys in '97, Best New Artist and Best Rock Album.

Album: Hard Core

In late 1996, after years of being the female presence in Junior M.A.F.I.A, pint-sized Brooklyn bad ass Lil' Kim stepped out on her own and released her debut studio album, Hard Core. Based on the success of the singles "Crush on You" and "No Time," the album was certified platinum by June of '97.

Movie: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Elizabeth Hurley, as Vanessa Kensington, Austin Powers' ridiculously sexy accomplice and love interest, stole all of our hearts. And quite frankly, we don't care if she was eventually revealed as being a Fem-Bot, we still want to shag her rotten. Yeah, baby!

Movies: Anaconda, U Turn & Selena

Before she started churning out hit singles or judging wannabee stars, Jenny from the Block starred in a handful of hit films, some of which were released in 1997. The most notable of the crop was Selena, a biopic about the life of Selena Quintanilla-Perez, the late Tejano star who Lopez has long credited as being one of her main musical influences. J-Lo's knockout performance in the film turned heads all over Hollywood.

Album: Butterfly

Mariah Carey released her 6th studio album, Butterfly. The album produced numerous hit singles and TRL-topping music videos, including "Honey," which spawned a killer remix that included verses by The Lox and Mase.

Movie and TV show: Picture Perfect & Friends

In 1997, the popularity of NBC's Friends' was at an all-time high. The entire cast was in high demand, but perhaps none more so than Rachel Green herself, Jennifer Aniston. And also that year, for the first time in her career, Jennifer Aniston's name was at the forefront of the marketing campaign for a feature film. In Picture Perfect, a romantic comedy in which she starred alongside Kevin Bacon and Jay Mohr, it was Jennifer's name that received top billing.