9 milestones & records that prove 'Drag Race' season 16 was HERSTORIC
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This season was absolutely giving!
The 16th season of RuPaul's Drag Race has come to an end, and some fans are already missing it! As we conclude this era and gear up for the just-announced RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 9 cycle, it wouldn't hurt to list all the major records and milestones that season 16 has conquered.
From Drag Race breaking ratings records on TV to an episode receiving the highest-ever IMDB score of the entire series to the queens themselves winning a hestoric number of challenges… there are endless reasons to celebrate what an incredible season this has been for the show.
Scroll through to check out some of the biggest records and achievements from RuPaul's Drag Race season 16.
1. Season 16 broke a series premiere ratings record…
MTV Spring Break Talent Show ft. Dawn, Mirage, & More! 🌴🎤 RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16
Season 16 came out swinging with a first episode that became the series' highest-rated premiere in six years among the key demographic of adults, scoring a share total of 0.91.
2. …and also had record-high ratings for the grand finale.
The season 16 finale culminated in the crowning of Nymphia Wind as America's Next Drag Superstar. When it comes to ratings, Deadline reports that the season 16 finale was "the highest-rated episode of Drag Race in 13 years" according to data collected by Nielsen.
3. Season 16 featured the best-reviewed episode of 'Drag Race' on IMDB.
IMDB
The 15th episode of Drag Race season 16, "Lip Sync LaLaPaRuza Smackdown – Reunited," is the highest-rated episode of the entire flagship series on IMDB. The episode is currently rated at 9.4/10, which is a really high score.
4. Sapphira Cristál's streak of consecutive challenge wins.
MTV
On season 16, Sapphira Cristál became the first-ever queen to win three maxi challenges consecutively. Besides winning episode 1's Talent Show, Sapphira won episode 10 ("Power" Rumix challenge), episode 11 (comedy challenge), and episode 12 (bathroom design challenge) — the first queen to win three in a row in a regular U.S. season.
5. Plane Jane & Sapphira Cristál both won four challenges.
MTV
This was also the first regular season in herstory to feature two queens having won four maxi challenges for themselves. Besides the aforementioned four challenges won by Sapphira, Plane Jane won episode 2 (Talent Show) episode 8 (Snatch Game), episode 12 (bathroom design challenge), and episode 13 (makeover challenge).
This is a huge milestone not only for Sapphira and Plane, but also for the entire flagship series (excluding All Stars, which is a spinoff).
6. The first-ever Miss Congeniality tie.
MTV
The season 16 finale also gagged us with the crowning of not one, but two Miss Congeniality winners! Both Xunami Muse and Sapphira Cristál won the title and each of them received the $10,000 cash tip that comes with the honor!
7. Nymphia Wind is the first East Asian winner of the flagship series.
The ever-expanding Drag Race franchise has various Asian winners around the world, but season 16 has just turned Nymphia Wind into the first East Asian winner of the entire flagship series. We need to stan!
8. Most-social season in 'Drag Race' herstory.
Paramount/MTV tell Out that season 16 was the "most social season of RuPaul's Drag Race ever with 514M social views." This was an increase of 11% compared to the total social viewership of season 15 (461M).
9. No. 1 most-social cable reality program in 2024.
Per Paramount/MTV, Drag Race season 16 also reached social media milestones in comparison to all other cable TV shows — being so far the no. 1 most-social cable program of 2024.
