After 13 seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race and five seasons of All-Stars, this franchise has had quite a few performances go viral on YouTube. Between Rusicals, lip syncs, and Rumixes, the series gives its contestants plenty of opportunities to showcase their talents to the world. It's no secret that competing on Drag Race has always been a huge challenge of its own: the queens must be skilled at lip syncing, singing, dancing, acting, walking the runway, designing outfits, doing their own makeup, coming up with jokes, writing lyrics to songs, and just about whatever other challenges Mama Ru throws their way.
In modern seasons, it has become even more imperative for Drag Race queens to be jacks of all trades. It feels pretty impossible nowadays for contestants to get to the finale without proving themselves to be at least "decent" at all of the challenges that the show puts them through. Otherwise, it is fairly easy to get sent home along the way, as one stumble can be the entire downfall for a queen competing in the series. Thankfully, the fans have watched a lot of amazing performances from incredibly talented queens over the years, and some of them even went viral online.
On YouTube, the most-watched RuPaul's Drag Race performance of all time was the "Queens Everywhere" Rumix from season 11, which featured Yvie Oddly, Brooke Lynn Hytes, A'Keria C. Davenport, Silky Nutmeg Ganache, and Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. The performance was watched 7.2 million times on YouTube. In second place is the season 12 lip sync to Nicki Minaj's "Starships" between Widow Von'Du and Gigi Goode, with 4.6 million views. Then comes the RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars 2 Rusical "HERstory Of The World" featuring Alaska, Katya, Detox, Roxxxy Andrews, Alyssa Edwards, Phi Phi O'Hara, and Ginger Minj, with a total of 4.5 million views. Trailing just behind - also with 4.5 million views - is the "Super Queen" Rumix of All-Stars 4, which included verses from Monet X Change, Trinity The Tuck, Monique Heart, and Naomi Smalls. In fifth place is "Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical" from season 10, with 4 million views. All five of these performances can be watched below.
Those five performances on Drag Race are all incredibly memorable for different reasons, but the fans certainly love them all - and the YouTube views are there to prove it. With RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 well underway now and a possible All-Stars 6 in sight, the fandom can count on 2021 to deliver even more gag-worthy performances on the mainstage.
From Rusicals to Rumixes, it's always hard to pick an absolute favorite for the fandom. In any case, we can thankfully enjoy them all separately.
RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 airs Fridays at 8pm EST on VH1.
Sources: RuPaul's Drag Race YouTube channel