You Voted! Your Best of 2008

BRITNEY SPEARS
By a landslide – 60 percent! – PEOPLE.com readers voted Spears the star they couldn't stop talking about, for the second year in a row. And what a year it was! After starting 2008 with a dramatic hospitalization at the UCLA psych ward , Spears slowly started work on an image makeover that included well-received guest spots on How I Met Your Mother, victory at the VMAs and a new No. 1 album, Circus.

JENNIFER ANISTON amp JOHN MAYER
Was it the eight-year age difference? The on-again, off-again status updates? Or "just major chemistry," as a friend puts it, that had PEOPLE.com readers tracking the twosome's coupling? Whatever it was, 42 percent of readers say they couldn't help but follow this Hollywood connection.

BEN AFFLECK amp JENNIFER GARNER
If anyone can go the distance, it's these two, according to PEOPLE.com readers, who gave the low-key couple a vote of confidence for the second year in a row. Next up for the twosome: a little sibling for daughter Violet, 3. Garner is due to give birth early in the new year.

KINGSTON ROSSDALE
Suri Cruise may have the cutest dresses, but readers had to give it up for Hollywood's littlest rocker, Kingston. Like parents Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani, the 2-year-old has an edgy, California-skater vibe – and even models items from Mom's L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers fashion lines!

HALLE BERRY
Less than six months after giving birth to daughter Nahla Ariela on March 16, the Oscar winner was back in movie-star shape – thanks to 60-minute sessions, five days a week, with a trainer.

JAKE GYLLENHAAL
Although they're not engaged (yet), Jake and Reese Witherspoon share a solid bond. "I just think he loves her," his producer pal Ryan Kavanaugh told PEOPLE. And Reese, of course, agrees. "He's very supportive," the actress told Vogue. "I'm very happy in life."

MARIO LOPEZ
PEOPLE's Hottest Bachelor might want to rethink his vow that his "shirtless photo-shoot days are behind me." Thanks to Lopez's vigorous workouts – "I don't feel like I've woken up unless I've broken a sweat," he told PEOPLE – his six-pack proved no match for even the buffest competition.

JESSICA ALBA
Just three months after giving birth to daughter Honor Marie, Alba was trim and toned in Los Cabos, Mexico. "She worked out an hour a day, five or six days a week, and stayed on a strict diet of about 1,700 calories a day, losing 600 calories because of exercise," trainer Ramona Braganza told PEOPLE.

CHARLIE VS. DENISE
When Richards landed It's Complicated, an E! reality show, Sheen took his ex to court – unsuccessfully – to keep daughters Sam and Lola off-screen. He even told PEOPLE, "I think we should all just boycott the damn thing!" Later – in an understatement – Richards admitted to Ryan Seacrest, "Charlie and I don't agree on much these days."

HARLOW WINTER KATE MADDEN
Vivienne, Sunday Rose, Zuma – all unique names, but none is as favored as much as Harlow, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's little girl. "I really like Jean Harlow the actress, and she likes Shalom Harlow the model," says Madden of how he and Richie came to the moniker. "Harlow's cool because it feels like a classic name." As for Winter, Madden says the season is "so serene and quiet, and that's how she is."

SARAH SILVERMAN amp MATT DAMON
Riffing off beau Jimmy Kimmel's longstanding fake feud with Matt Damon, Silverman recorded a video for Kimmel's birthday – where she proclaimed that she was "f–king Matt Damon." The actor appeared in the clip and sang along, "... In the bed, on the floor, in a towel by the door." The clip ended up winning Silverman an Emmy, and inspiring Kimmel's response, "I'm F–king Ben Affleck," which came in second.

SELENA GOMEZ
Watch out, Miley Cyrus! Almost half of you think Gomez, who's recording her debut CD and stars in the Disney Channel supernatural hit Wizards of Waverly Place, is going to rule in '09. After all, what's a star without a little scandal? After Gomez dated her ex Nick Jonas, Cyrus parodied Gomez and her friend Demi Lovato on a YouTube clip.

BRITNEY SPEARS
Just eight months after her breakdown, Spears rebounded at the MTV Video Music Awards. Looking like her old, multiplatinum pop-star self, she glittered in a Versace minidress and took home three moonmen – her first VMA wins ever. She ended the 2008 with a No. 1 CD, Circus. Recapping her dramatic year to MTV, Spears said, "I sit there and I'll look back and I'm like: I'm a smart person. What the hell was I thinking?"

JENNIFER GARNER
Back in black, the actress ditched her usual mommy gear for ultra-glam Oscar de la Renta at the Academy Awards, landing her on best dressed lists and making her a PEOPLE.com reader favorite!

NICOLE RICHIE
After welcoming daughter Harlow in January, the once-troubled star focused on charity work with beau Joel Madden. The couple's Richie-Madden Children's Foundation raised $10,000 for an L.A. playground and created an online registry for moms in need. Richie also found time for work (with a guest spot on Chuck) – that is, when she wasn't home making baby food. "Food tastes better coming from your mom because it's made with love," she told PEOPLE.

MANDY SCHICK
After having her son Kadyn four years ago, the Reinbeck, Iowa, mom had "a new-found respect for myself." Now voted as the Sexiest Mom Alive, Schick, 26, says there's one very special time when she feels worthy of the title: "When my husband looks at me playing with Kadyn, that makes me feel sexy."

SOPHIA
What brought on this face? Grandmother Jan DeMaggio says 2-month-old Sophia was "not a happy camper" when mom Monica made sure the baby was safe to play in the sun – in an SPF 100 one-piece swimsuit, an SPF 50 hat, diaper and swim shorts. Despite the scowl, Grandma says the San Francisco tot is "the happiest little thing."

JULIET
Debbie Butler of Scottsdale, Ariz., got her 4-year-old toy Pomeranian, Juliet, to pose for the pic by giving her a belly rub. "Every night, my daughter would tuck her into my bed as a nice surprise waiting when I got home!"