Back in 2021—what was then the biggest year of Drag Race yet—I ranked the top 10 lip sync battles of the year across the various series in the franchise. The very next year, such a task became nigh impossible as the sheer number of seasons being produced made it infeasible to keep up with them all. Any kind of lip sync ranking in the last three years would’ve required lots of laborious research.
But things have changed! Thanks to WOW Presents Plus’ new lip sync library, checking out lip syncs from across various international series has become easier than ever. Armed with that, and some recommendations from friends and sources across the internet, I struck out to do what I last did four years ago: create a top 10 list of lip syncs from the year’s Drag Race seasons.
First, some honourable mentions: I stuck to just one lip sync from each episode, which means a couple great ones from the All Stars 10 finale (particularly Jorgeous’s and Aja’s “Party Lights,” but also Jorgeous’s and Lydia B Kollins’s “Whenever, Wherever”) didn’t make the list. I also couldn’t decide which of Suzie Toot’s lip sync wins in the LaLaPaRuZa was my favourite—and went with an entirely different battle from that episode instead—but I do always enjoy revisiting hers and Kori King’s “APT.” lip sync. Finally, it’s not my preferred Makayla Couture vs. The Virgo Queen lip sync, but since the better one aired in 2024, I’ll just give a shout-out to their “From This Moment On” battle from Canada’s Drag Race Season 5’s finale.
10. “Show Me How You Burleseque,” Bosco defeats Daya Betty, All Stars 10
This one was lower on my list of the AS10 finale lip syncs at the time, but has aged like wine in my mind. It’s an emotional battle, as the two friends don’t want to lip sync against each other, and Bosco knows picking this song is effectively signing the warrant for Daya’s elimination. But that doesn’t stop Bosco from pulling out all the stops. She gives the closest thing we’ve ever seen to a true burlesque performance on the Drag Race stage, complete with a feather fan reveal trick that I’m still thinking about months later. Daya does well, but she simply can’t keep up with Bosco in her ideal lane. This is Bosco’s best lip sync in her Drag Race career, and I hope she only continues to top herself when she almost inevitably returns to the show.
9. “Brasil,” DesiRée Beck ties Mellody Queen, Brasil Season 2
While watching lip syncs for this ranking, I fell in love with Mellody Queen, the runner-up of Drag Race Brasil Season 2, who struggled in the competition but nonetheless slayed every time she had to fight for her life on the main stage. Dressed in their animalistic, high-concept Brazilian Legends runway looks, she and DesiRée start this lip sync hot, and never let up. DesiRée is more focused, more internal, but nails the emotion. Mellody, on the other hand, is ferocious and fast-moving, gliding across the stage and making all sorts of moments for herself. It’s a shame about how many long confessionals there are in this edit, because we deserved to see every minute of this duel to the Gal Costa song. But it’s still great enough to easily earn a top 10 placement on this list.
8. “Step by Step,” Lucky Starzzz defeats Acacia Forgot, Season 17
This was as surprising as it was fun, and it was very fun. You definitely remember Lucky’s basketball boobs look, which she used to full effect in this Whitney Houston lip sync battle. But what you may have forgotten is that Acacia puts up one hell of a fight here, including a slow dip gag that’s one of the funniest things in any of these lip syncs. If you had told me going into the LaLaPaRuZa that my favourite battle from it would be between Lucky and Acacia, I would’ve balked—but after seeing it, I certainly couldn’t call you wrong. Props not just for a great battle, but a genuinely and pleasantly surprising one.
7. “À cause des garçons,” Mami Watta defeats Piche, France All Stars
Mami Watta, a no-challenge win finalist from France Season 2, came into France All Stars ready for her Rudemption. In fairness to her, Keiona Revlon and Sara Forever devoured her first season—it’s not like there were many challenge wins to go around. But still, Mami came back for her second run “focused and galvanized,” to quote another All Stars winner. That focus can be seen in this lip sync, which features some of the best dancing in any lip sync this year. Piche does well enough, but somewhere around the second verse, Mami puts the pedal to the metal and never lets up. As is the case with a lot of lip syncs on this list, it’s elevated by just how Mami is enjoying herself in it—an infectious enthusiasm that leaves you cheering.
6. “Think U the Shit (Fart),” Aja defeats Irene The Alien, All Stars 10
This battle is one decent Irene lip sync away from being much higher on this list. Unfortunately, lip syncing to Ice Spice is not the Portland queen’s ministry. As it stands, it’s the Aja Show, as the ballroom veteran dominates the stage. Aja’s dance moves in the middle of the performance, which you can see the cameraperson actually struggling to keep up with, became the most viral thing about All Stars 10 online earlier this year, and for good reason. Aja’s given us some legendary lip syncs across her three seasons, but this was her best yet—a culmination of all her developed skills in one performance. For this lip sync alone, I’m so glad she made the finale; her Rudemption was hard earned.
5. “Jeito Sexy,” Mellody Queen defeats Bhelchi, Brasil Season 2
Sometimes there’s nothing else to a lip sync’s placement on a list like this other than the fact that it’s really fucking good. Mellody and Bhelchi’s pre-finale battle determined which of the two would make it to the end, and they made the judges’ job unbelievably tough. Both are fantastic on “Jeito Sexy,” both in movement and in emotional interpretation of the song. Mellody manages to keep more of the emotion on her face the entire time, and is just a bit more dynamic in her movement, which I think is why she ultimately wins out. But when the two come together to perform as one unit at the end, it’s so much fun that you wish both of them could move onto the finale. An instant favourite to rewatch.
4. “Boogie Wonderland,” Lydia B Kollins defeats Arrietty, Season 17
Raise your hand if you expected Lydia to do this when she first fell into the bottom two on Season 17. Is your hand raised? I’m calling you a liar. It was a gag to learn that not only was Lydia an accomplished performer but she has an almost supernatural understanding of rhythm. Every move in this lip sync is perfectly placed, from the opening of her coat at the start to the dance breakdown later. Many have said it, but it’s worth repeating, that the eye-contact moment Lydia has with Ru, in which Lydia realizes just how much she’s killing it, is an all-time great Lip Sync for Your Life moment. The fact that Arrietty is helplessly flailing about for the whole lip sync only adds camp value to what is otherwise a terrific showcase for Lydia. What a delight!
3. “Cold Hearted,” Brooke Lynn Hytes and Van Goth lip sync just for fun, Canada Season 6
The most recent lip sync on this list is an utter joy, and a master class from one of the best to ever perform the art of the Lip Sync for Your Life. Brooke Lynn Hytes, a queen who has given us titanic battles with other Lip Sync Assassins over the years (see: “Sorry Not Sorry” and “Miss You Much”), came out of retirement to show off a bit in the CDR Season 6 premiere. The winner of the inaugural challenge, Van Goth, got the chance to be demolished by BLH in a lip sync to Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”—and right in front of Paula herself!
Granted, Van did well by any normal measure, but she was going up against a wizard. Brooke Lynn’s performance is perfectly paced, contains a perfect callback to Coco Montrese’s own iconic lip sync of the song, and ends with her throwing her tassel across Van to symbolize, in her own words, the dog-walking that just occurred. What elevates this into the top three is the very clever choice to do a split screen during Paula’s rap, one that eventually includes Paula herself lip syncing. Just so much fun, and a great way to start what’s shaping up to be a great season.
I have really gone back and forth on the top two of this list. One lip sync is a striking expression of the agony of wanting something so much that you can hardly bear it. The other is a gorgeous expression of joy, of getting to battle it out with your sister on a global stage. My personal preferences drew me to one over the other, but by the smallest margin. I’d almost prefer you consider them 1A and 1B in your mind—that’s how strongly I feel about these two lip syncs. But a ranking simply must have a winner and a runner-up, so with that said …
2. “Una estrella en mi jardín,” Margarita Kalifata ties Satín Greco, España Season 5
Part of what makes this battle so beautiful is in the context: a twist on Drag Race España this season gave the just-eliminated queen the chance to name which queen won their heart. That “heart” power gave a queen the chance to save one of the bottom three. The season’s first boot, Nori, gave her heart to the motherly figure of the cast, Satín Greco, who was in the bottom three for the week. But instead of saving herself, she chose to save Ferrxn, citing her pride in her performance in that episode and a desire to see neither Ferrxn nor Margarita go home. Several of the other queens thought this meant Satín was giving up—Margarita even compared her to Season 1 lip sync quitter Dovima Nurmi in a confessional—but that was far from the truth.
Margarita and Satín’s performance to Mari Trini’s “Una estrella en mi jardín” is one of the most emotional lip syncs in franchise herstory, up there with Yara Sofia’s breakdown during “I Think About You” in Season 3. (Appropriately, this battle also ends with one queen telling the other, “no llores.”) Both queens embody the feeling not just of the song, but the moment in the competition, with gorgeous ache. Margarita practically explodes with emotion, while Satín barely moves, etching every inch of the song’s meaning onto her face. The judges are crying, the other queens are crying, I’m crying—it’s stunning. And it’s all the more perfect that, after a brief fake-out, both queens shantay. What a triumph; a lip sync I will revisit many, many times for years to come.
1. “Queendom,” Brigiding defeats Viñas Deluxe, Philippines: Slaysian Royale
I had so much fun throughout Slaysian Royale, a delightful season that I think represents the future of Drag Race in many ways. I fell in love with several of the queens, including and especially Drag Race Philippines Season 1 veteran Brigiding. But my enjoyment of the international, all-Asian crossover season came in its LaLaPaRuZa episode, featuring several tremendous lip sync showdowns. The best of them all came between Brig and her Season 1 sister, Viñas Deluxe, to RuPaul’s song “Queendom.”
Proving that great artists can turn even the strangest songs into major moments, Brigiding and Viñas demolish this. The first half is just a really sharp, tight lip sync battle, with Brig nailing every word and Viñas playing to the cameras perfectly. Then, they get more physical, bringing out all sorts of stunts. But where it really turns up is when they start pulling out props: first a balloon from Viñas, then glitter from Brig, and finally an air blower from Viñas. After some duo hairography, Viñas takes a break in the song to start cleaning up the stage, but then Brigiding pulls the move that probably wins it all for her: she gets Viñas to blow her with the air, turning the rest of the lip sync into a mime-off between them. It’s pure happiness in lip sync form, between two sisters who clearly adore each other. It makes me smile every time I see even a short clip from it, and that’s why it’s my pick for the best Drag Race lip sync of 2025.
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