A new study has estimated the financial pulling power the RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants have on Instagram, and – even though it’s long been known that the fandom is rife with racism – it’ll still be both infuriating and unsurprising to learn that there are no Black queens in the Top 10.
It’s not that the list is lacking ethnic diversity altogether: in the Top 5 alone, the legendary Bianca Del Rio, who is of Cuban and Honduran descent, is at No1; fan fave Trixie Mattell, who is Ojibwe on their mother’s side, is No2; Mexican icon Adore Delano is at No3; and the wonderful Kim Chi, who is South Korean-American, is at No5.
But when it comes to Black queens, the highest-ranking star is all the way down at No12: the all-time great Naomi Smalls.
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This research was conducted by SlotsUp.com using calculations from the Instagram Marketing Hub, and estimates how much each of the queens could typically make from a paid Instagram post.
Del Rio is out in front with an estimated asking price of $7,378 per post; ahead of Trixie Mattell in second ($7,055). Adore, Katya and Kim Chi complete the Top 5.
Here’s the Top 10:
- Bianca Del Rio: $7,378 per Instagram Post
- Trixie Mattel: $7,055 per post
- Adore Delano: $6,909 per post
- Katya Zamolodchikova: $6,550 per post
- Kim Chi: $6,355 per post
- Violet Chachki: $6,040 per post
- Alyssa Edwards: $5,876 per post
- Sasha Velour: $5,841 per post
- Alaska: $5,801 per post
- Aquaria: $5,474 per post
The comparative dust paid to Black queens is unsurprising due partly to the fact that Drag Race fans have long been known to be trash when it comes to where they put their Insta follows and likes (heck, some of them are just plain, outright racist as well).
For example, Jaida Essence Hall is by far the least-followed winner since the lesser-known days of Seasons 1, 2 and Allstars 1 (552k); and even when you factor in the fact that her victory was the most recent, it’s notable that her fellow Season 12 finalists Gigi (809k) and Crystal (642k) both have larger Insta fanbases.
In fact, just for the hell of it, here are the Drag Race winners ranked by Insta follower count:
- Bianca Del Rio (Season 6) – 2.2m
- Trixie Mattell (Allstars 3) – 2.1m
- Violet Chachki (Season 7) – 1.8m
- Sasha Velour (Season 9) – 1.7m
- Aquaria (Season 10) – 1.6m
- Bob the Drag Queen (Season 8) – 1.3m
- Trinity The Tuck (Allstars 4) – 1.2m
- Jinkx Monsoon (Season 5) – 1.1m
- Sharon Needles (Season 4) – 1.1m
- Yvie Oddly (Season 11) – 970k
- Raja (Season 3) – 944k
- Monet X Change (Allstars 4) – 919k
- Jaida Essence Hall (Season 12) – 552k
- Chad Michaels (Allstars 1) – 521k
- Bebe Zahara Benet (Season 1) – 482k
- Tyra Sanchez (Season 2) – 40.6k (Retired/wiped most of her account)
That Black queens have to fight even harder to win the same volume of fans enjoyed by lighter-skinned contestants is shambolic. We as a community that loves the show need to do way, way better.
There’s an interesting discussion of this topic, including input from the queens themselves, on BuzzFeed here.
While you’re here, the resources at blacklivesmatter.carrd.co have been updated with more petitions and recommendations for donations. We also must continue to push for justice for Breonna Taylor.
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