RuPaul’s Drag Race has been a source of joy for many people in the LGBTQ+ community and beyond over the last year, but now a new study has revealed which contestants have been the most popular.

With RPDR Seasons 12 and 13, All Stars 5, RPDR UK Series 2, Canada’s Drag Race and Drag Race Holland all airing since the start of the pandemic, the contestants’ internet popularity has never been bigger.

Drag Race queens are often grouped based on the size of their Instagram following, with queens such as Trixie Mattel, Katya, Bianca Del Rio, Adore Delano, and Plastique Tiara all being part of the envied ‘2 Million Followers Club’.

However, lingerie brand Pour Moi recently conducted a study to find out the 12 most popular Drag Race queens based on how often they’d been the subject of a Google search over the last 12 months. 

The study revealed that some RPDR queens had been googled more in the last year than even the show’s illustrious host. While ‘RuPaul’ was googled over 2.1 million times last year, contestants Nina West and Trixie Mattel were googled more than three times as much. 

According to Pour Moi, here are the 12 most popular Drag Race queens from the past year:

1. Nina West (S11) – 7,834,850 searches
2. Trixie Mattel (S7 & AS3) – 6,661,400 searches
3. Chi Chi Devayne (S8 & AS3) – 2,865,960  searches
4. Gigi Goode (S12) – 1,759,840 searches
5. Violet Chachki (S7) – 1,744,290 searches
6. Crystal Methyd (S12) – 1,676,460 searches
7. Bianca Del Rio (S6) – 1,593,040 searches
8. Alyssa Edwards (S5 & AS2) – 1,577,900 searches
9. Courtney Act (S6) – 1,532,680 searches
10. Bob the Drag Queen (S8) – 1,518,100 searches
11. Adore Delano (S6 & AS2) – 1,434,680 searches
12. Sharon Needles (S4) – 1,378,100 searches

The crowned queen of Pour Moi’s study was Season 11’s Miss Congeniality, Nina West. While Trixie Mattel was googled the most in countries with the highest populations, Nina was the most googled queen in the most individual countries over all. In the end Nina West was the top queen of the study by over one million searches. 

Chi Chi Devayne, who appeared in Season 8 and All Stars 3, appeared in the top searches for many countries due to her untimely death in August 2020.

Meanwhile, other queens such as Gigi Goode and Crystal Methyd likely owe their top spots in part to the fact that their season was airing at the same time that Pour Moi’s research was being compiled. 

While some queens seem to have been the recipients of global popularity this year, other queens celebrated a more local appreciation. Queens with ties to specific countries, according to the study, were often amongst the most googled queens there.

Katya was popular in Russia, Bebe Zahara Benet in Cameroon, and Courtney Act in Australia. Similarly, Nicky Doll was amongst the most googled queens in her native France, and RPDR UK winner, The Vivienne, was popular in, well, the UK. 

More information on the most googled queens in over 40 individual countries can be found at Pour Moi’s website along with a full breakdown of their study.

In addition, Pour Moi created a gorgeous illustrated infographic viewable on their site that brings together all of the stunning outfits that were worn by Drag Race winners at their coronations over the years. Spoilers ahead!