‘Drag Race’ lip-syncs cause surge in streams for Whitney Houston, Ariana Grande
By Ross Semple
Have you been listening to Whitney Houston’s ‘So Emotional’ on repeat since Sasha Velour’s jaw-dropping lip-sync on the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Well you’re not the only one.
According to Billboard, songs featured on Drag Race are experiencing boosts in streams and sales, in another sign of the show’s world domination.
‘So Emotional’ jumped an incredible 650% in Spotify streams in the week following Sasha’s victory, with a 510% spike across all video and audio streaming services. The Whitney track featured in the final lip-sync between Sasha and Peppermint, ‘It’s Not Right But It’s Okay’, saw a surge in streams of almost 200%.
Streams of RuPaul’s ‘You Wear It Well’ went up by 154% after it was featured in a four-way lip-sync between Sasha Velour, Peppermint, Trinity Taylor, and Shea Couleé. Ariana Grande’s ‘Greedy’ experienced a surge of 118% after ‘Maskgate’ sent Valentina home. Maybe everyone was learning the lyrics to it?
Somewhat surprisingly, the biggest boost came to Dolly Parton’s ‘Baby I’m Burning’, which racked up a colossal increase of 2114% after Alexis Michelle triumphed over Farrah Moan in a lip-sync.
Responding to the news, Farrah said: “That’s absolutely amazing. I never thought that would happen. But I love Dolly Parton and that makes me extremely happy.”
Drag Race was recently nominated for a record eight Emmys, the most in the show’s history.
Ru snatched the Emmy for Outstanding Host last year, and he has scored another nomination this year. This is the first time that the series itself has been nominated in the Outstanding Reality-Competition Program. Drag Race will go up against The Amazing Race, American Ninja Warrior, Project Runway, Top Chef and The Voice at the ceremony in September.
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