RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16 Archives

RuPaul’s Drag Race has delivered the second half of its split premiere with Season 16 Episode 2, “Queen Choice Awards.” This continues the throwback MTV theme wrapped around a standard talent show and a reveal runway retitled to “Made Ya Look.”

There’s this idea that it’s no longer enough to just be good at drag to do well on Drag Race – that the show has come too far, and demands too much.

I think that idea is a fiction. If you look at winners of Drag Race back to BeBe Zahara Benet, they have always done the most. Even when looks were closer to off-the-rack than runway-ready, every queen who has won this show has been impressive not only in charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, but on some intrinsic conceptual level as well.

I mention that because the divide between the haves and have-nots in this cast when it comes to that conceptual x-factor seems to be a stark one. There are a number of charming, talented queens in this cast who I am already beginning to adore who don’t seem to have the pure imagination it takes to win Drag Race.

Or, maybe I’m wrong! Sometimes I’m wrong. I completely missed out on [spoiler!] Ginger Johnson being the one queen to rule them all on Drag Race UK, and on Drag Race Down Under I initially had the runner up as my pick over the winner. There are times that the core concept of a queen just doesn’t come across for me under the pressure of a first episode.

But… I also have a tremendous recent track record of picking finalists (Drag Race UK aside).

I’ll be curious to see how this race develops with all fourteen queens sharing screen time next week – especially when faced with a Ball challenge, one of the ultimate tests of a queen’s ability to manifest her conceptual vision on the stage. Have I correctly guessed the haves and have-nots when it comes to being high-concept?

Now that we have the second half of our split premiere in hand, I’m power ranking all 14 queens for the first time this week! Yes, I’ve shuffled all of the queens from my Week 1 “Rate-a-Queen” power ranking into the mix (and reshuffled one of them lower now that we know the next challenge is a Ball). Who are my picks for high-concept obvious finalists? And, who do I think will be our first outs of the season?

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best drag queen win!

RuPaul’s Drag Race is back with the first episode of Season 16, Rate-A-Queen – complete with an MTV Spring Break Talent show and a “RuVeal Yourself” runway! When I saw the episode title I couldn’t resist making my return to do the same thing, rating and power ranking the amazing drag artists featured on the show!

Drag Race officially got out of control in 2023, with more franchises than I could even keep up with! In addition to the US flagship and its All Stars edition, in 2023 there was also UK, Canada, Down Under, España, France, Philippines, Belgique, Sverige, Germany, Mexico, & Brazil – plus Queen of the Universe. That’s over a dozen winners in a single year!

All but two of those franchises are expected to return in 2024 (sorry Sverige and Queen of the Universe), plus we have another season of UK vs. The World incoming, a new España All-Stars, the return of Drag Race Thailand, and another new Ru-hosted series.

There isn’t even enough time in my day to watch all of these incredible drag artists from around the world, let alone rank and recap them all! But, when it comes to meeting the new American queens and watching them battle to be America’s Next Drag Superstar, I can always find a little time in my schedule.

With so many drag artist finding their way onto our screens every year, it’s starting to feel like Drag Race has become a game of archetypes. As a dozen dozen queens walk through the workroom doors each year, it’s more important than every to have a defined brand without being stuck in a box.

A successful drag artist needs to know the mold they fit into best and also must understand how to shatter the weight of those expectations. Looking at this past year of winners, we’ve had beauty queens who can do it all, dancers who are funny, and experienced showgirls with a youthful attitude.

This week we had the first part of a split premiere, with seven queens showing off their entrance looks, talent show, and a “Ruveal Yourself” runway before doing their own power rankings with a special Rate-a-Queen gimmick. How did they stack up? Keep reading for my totally personal, totally subjective power rankings of this first half of the cast.

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best drag queen win!