Ranking every Drag Race US and UK winner by track record
How does each winner of Drag Race compare? (WOW/ BBC)
The expanded Drag Race Ru-niverse has almost countless winners, but who’s the cream of the crop? Here’s how the champions of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Drag Race UK stack up.
Since the vaseline-filtered first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered in 2009, 210 queens have appeared on the flagship version alone, and produced 15 – soon to be 16 – winners of regular seasons. Add to that the franchise’s first international spinoff to be hosted by RuPaul himself, Drag Race UK, and we’ve another five winners (out of 55 competitors) in the mix.
So how do they all stack up?
In order to make it a fair and objective ranking, we’ve produced a highly ‘scientific’ ranking system, using ‘maths’ and ‘statistics’. A challenge win is worth 5 points, a ‘high’ placement is 4, safe is 3, a low placement is 2, a bottom two is 1. OK, it’s hardly groundbreaking, but it’ll do.
This is also where we’ll take the opportunity to say that every one of these queens, and indeed, the vast majority of queens who have appeared on the show, are phenomenal entertainers, and deserve respect and support wherever a ‘ranking’ may land them.
Obviously, some seasons of Drag Race are longer than others: Bob the Drag Queen‘s season, for example, was a short eight episodes in length, whereas Willow Pill and Sasha Colby‘s respective runs were a full four episodes longer.
For that reason, we’re doing a PPE score – a points per episode system. Add up the points, divide by the amount of episodes to work out an average score, and we have the rankings! Data journalism for the win.
Here is how every winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Drag Race UK rank.
19) Willow Pill, season 14 (Score: 3.33)
Season 14’s winner only snagged one challenge win (for a Ball), which is perhaps why Willow Pill has come in last.
Willow had many top placements – and her score is marred by the weird Snatch Game twist which saw her technically bottom, and a prolonged season length that made it harder to consistently land in the top.
18) Yvie Oddly, season 11 (Score: 3.42)
The bendiest winner the franchise has ever seen, Yvie’s run on season eleven ended with a lipsync against the season’s other frontrunner, Brooke Lynn Hytes.
It was Ms. Oddly who triumphed in all her back-bending glory, becoming the first winner of the franchise to take the crown with just one challenge win.
17) Krystal Versace, UK season three (Score: 3.44)
The first UK winner on the ranking, and youngest ever winner crowned, Krystal’s PPE score is credited to her back-to-back wins in the first two episodes of the season.
She was only ‘low’ once, and had one bottom two placement to send the season’s lipsync assassin, Vanity Milan, packing in their final competitive episode.
16) Aquaria, season 10 (Score: 3.45)
A fashion queen with a twist, Aquaria snatched three challenge wins on her way to the crown – and all for iconic challenge like the Snatch Game, the Ball challenge and the Rumix.
She never lipsynced, and only fell into the ‘low’ placement twice, making her mark in Drag Race‘s tenth season.
15) Bebe Zahara Benet, season one (Score: 3.5)
Bebe got two wins and one bottom two placement on the first ever season of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The show was an entirely different beast then, and for the first ever queen to walk into the winners’ circle, the score is as respectable as any. Cameroooooon!
14) Bob the Drag Queen, season 8 (Score: 3.50)
Now, we’re just as shocked as you that Bob the Drag Queen has appeared so soon on the ranking. Some possible qualifiers to add are the as-previously-mentioned-comparitively-short-length of season eight and the fact that BDTQ actually has no ‘high’ placements – just wins, though she did indeed have three of them.
13) Violet Chachki, season 7 (Score: 3.54)
The tiny waisted Violet Chachki is often referred to as one of the fashion queens of the franchise (alongside Raja), and for good reason.
Season seven is often disparaged by fans, but no one can deny that it produced some of the franchise’s most recognisable queens like Katya, Kennedy Davenport, Trixie Mattel and Ginger Minj – with Violet and her three wins among them.
12) Symone, season 13 (Score: 3.54)
In one of those moments where a queen won the second she strutted through the Werk Room doors, season thirteen really was Symone’s for the taking. She is the first flagship franchise winner to lipsync twice (and survive, obviously), but her four (!) challenge wins more than make up for it.
11) Lawrence Chaney, UK season two (Score: 3.55)
Lawrence Chaney dominated the first half of her season, racking up two challenge wins before the season’s COVID-induced half time break, and her third for the now iconic UK Hun? track by the United King Dolls. With one bottom two placement after sending Tia Kofi (a current UK Vs. The World finalist) home, Lawrence snatched the crown with an impressive PPE.
10) Raja, season three (Score 3.58)
Some girls study fashion; Raja is fashion. The season three champ won three challenges in her twelve-episode long tenure, all while providing the blueprint for queens to come. Even her lipsync against Carmen Carrera, affectionately referred to a ‘soft porn’, was iconic.
9) Jaida Essence Hall, season 12 (Score: 3.64)
Look over there! It’s Jaida Essence Hall, the winner of season twelve and owner of a very healthy PPE score.
Winning the premiere challenge, and then sitting pretty for the rest of the season until two further wins in episodes eight and nine, Jaida’s score is a testament to her charm, talent and humour.
8) Jinkx Monsoon, season five (Score: 3.72)
The Queen of All Queens, Jinkx Monsoon, shares a PPE score with two other winners, having garnered two wins, six high placements, two safe weeks and one lipsync to send Detox packing pre-finale.
Interestingly, Ms Monsoon is also the only flagship franchise winner to not have won a challenge by episode four – not that it matters.
7) Sasha Velour, season nine (Score: 3.72)
Although the infamous rose petal reveal to Whitney Houston’s ‘So Emotional’ in season nine’s lip sync for the crown is widely seen as the moment Sasha Velour secured the crown, it’s not like she’d done badly on her run, by any means. No lipsyncs, two challenges wins, and consistently high or safe? A worthy winner.
6) Sasha Colby, season 15 (Score: 3.92)
We’re truly in the territory of God-tier PPE scores now, with season 15’s winner sliding in at just shy of 4 points per episode.
Sasha Colby’s four challenge wins, not bottom placements and consistent high streaks set up the former Miss Continental for a stunning path to her crown in season fifteen.
5) Tyra Sanchez, season two (Score: 4)
Our first super-four PPE score, season two winner Tyra Sanchez had three wins, four high places and only one low placement, and two safe episodes.
It’s one example of (no shade) someone having a higher score than one might think – especially with Tyra’s post-show controversies.
4) The Vivienne, UK season one (Score: 4)
The top five PPE scores are UK-heavy – the shorter episode runs no doubt help on the averages front – with inaugural winner The Vivienne slotting in at fourth place.
In keeping with tradition for our UK champs, Viv only lipsynced once, but was never safe – only high for the other three eps and winning the remaining three of UK 1’s seven episode long run.
3) Danny Beard, UK season four (Score: 4.1)
Another legendary run, and clear victor from the off, Danny is another queen with four wins and very few stumbling points.
Three safe episodes and two high placements in the bank alongside her four RuPeter badges, and the only contestant who could have challenged her was Cheddar Gorgeous.
2) Ginger Johnson, UK season five (Score: 4.1)
Our most recent Drag Race UK winner, Ms Ginger Johnson had the added benefit of only 9 co-stars – but she still would have devoured regardless. Three wins, (all in a row, we might add), four high placements and only two safe weeks, and Ginger came for that crown with a vengeance – and a phenomenal PPE score.
1) Bianca Del Rio, season six (Score: 4.1)
The highest ranking US winner with a score to match Danny Beard and Ginger Johnson, but spread over a longer run of episodes, Bianca Del Rio’s run on Drag Race is, was, and will forever be, legendary.
Three wins. Five high placements. Only two safe episodes, and never placing below that. Texts. Receipts. Timelines. Proof. Bianca Del Rio, as the kids say, ate.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is available to stream on WOW Presents Plus and Drag Race UK is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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