Both Blake Shelton and Maroon 5's Adam Levine have received People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive title — Shelton in 2017, Levine in 2013 — and both entertainers have coached as part of the celebrity panel on NBC's The Voice. But who is actually the sexiest of the two?

Because if you ask Levine, he'll jokingly agree that Shelton's bestowal downgraded the Sexiest Man Alive achievement when the country singer earned it four years after he did. People has the receipts to prove it.

Levine served up the winking dig at Shelton while taking some fan questions via his Instagram Story earlier this week. The Maroon 5 singer kept things playful during the informal Q&A, first fielding a query about how it felt to be named the Sexiest Man Alive in the first place.

"Totally silly but flattering," Levine responded.

Then the guns came out. In a follow-up question, Levine was asked, "Do u think blake also being the sexiest man alive was a People's downgrade?"

Levine answered back with only a red 100 emoji, signifying agreement while offering a friendly jab at his fellow The Voice star. (Shelton's still on the reality talent show as of the recently completed Season 19. Levine left after Season 16, with Shelton's now-fiancée, Gwen Stefani, replacing him.)

Undoubtedly, the Maroon 5 frontman poking fun at the country star was all in good fun, right? Even so, Levine appears to have no interest in ever returning to The Voice, as PopCrush pointed out. In the same fan Q&A, when asked if he'd consider coming back, Levine replied, "No thank you."

People's first Sexiest Man Alive title went to Mel Gibson in 1985. Since Levine accepted the honor, it's gone to Chris Hemsworth (2014), David Beckham (2015) and Dwayne Johnson (2016). After Shelton got it, the title transferred to Idris Elba (2018), John Legend (2019) and Michael B. Jordan (2020).

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