With season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race officially over, fans finally know who won the crown. But which recording artist managed to win in terms of streaming bumps?
Throughout the latest season of the franchise, songs featured in lip syncs have earned a 28.1% increase on average in total on-demand streams, including UGC (user-generated content), according to Luminate.
The song that earned the biggest bump of the season was Cher‘s “Dark Lady,” which featured as the Lip Sync For Your Life song for episode four (aired Friday, Jan. 26). On the day the episode aired, “Dark Lady” earned 9,180 streams; the following day (Jan. 26), on-demand streams for the song spiked to 38,183, marking a 315.9% increase in on-demand streams for Cher.
Janet Jackson’s “What About” also earned a triple-digit percentage increase in streams thanks to Drag Race. After being featured as one of the lip-sync songs in April 12’s “Lalaparuza” episode, the song shot from 1,056 streams to 3,946 streams, netting Jackson a 273.7% increase.
Meanwhile, two Donna Summer songs nabbed similarly impressive streaming bumps thanks to a pair of lip-sync showdowns on this season of Drag Race. “This Time I Know It’s for Real,” Summer’s song used in a lip sync on April 12, secured a 180.9% increase in on-demand streams the day after the episode aired. “Dim All the Lights,” used in the episode 11 lip sync on March 15, also earned a 96.4% increase in on-demand streams the day following the episode.
The finale episode of season 16 (aired Friday, April 19) saw the franchise crown Nymphia Wind as America’s Next Drag Superstar following a heart-racing lip sync to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam,” (which earned a 56.5% bump in streams the day after being featured on the show). The queen made history with her crowning, becoming the first-ever East Asian winner of the American franchise.
Speaking to Billboard shortly after her victory, Wind said it felt “crazy to be able to live this out for my community and my country,” adding that “it really means a lot to me to be able to live this.”
