Ranking the highest-earning queens in 'RuPaul's Drag Race' herstory

Top earners in the 'Drag Race' franchise.

The cash tips and grand prizes on RuPaul's Drag Race and its spinoff series, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, have increased significantly over the years — and the reality competition franchise keeps expanding, breaks new Emmy Award records, and remains the biggest platform on television for LGBTQ+ talent both on and off the screen.

At this point in Drag Race herstory, winning a maxi challenge in a flagship season comes with a reward of $5,000. There are also occasional mini challenges usually worth $2,500. On All Stars, winning a maxi challenge and its subsequent lip sync for your legacy results in a cash tip of $10,000, which rolled over from week to week during the Lip Sync Assassin format but has since returned to its weekly dishing out of cash prizes to lip sync winners.

Both flagship and All Stars seasons of Drag Race maintained the $100,000 grand prize, first given out in season 4, for almost a decade. But after season 14 increased the Drag Race grand prize to $150,000, it grew yet again on All Stars 7 — the legendary all-winners season — to $200,000 as the new standard set for crowned champions on the show.

Between in-season cash tips, the increased grand prize, and format changes/twists giving competitors the chance to win even more money, it's time to meet the highest-earning queens in RuPaul's Drag Race herstory.

15. Monét X Change — $115,000

Monét X Change's Drag Race saga is one for the herstory books, and it all started with her crowning as season 10's Miss Congeniality, though she (inexplicably) became the only queen since season 7 to not win a cash prize with the title.

In 2019, Monét returned for All Stars 4 with a vengeance: She won three challenges, earned a $5,000 lip-sync cash tip along the way, and was crowned a winner in the end — cashing in the full $100,000 grand prize amount despite All Stars 4 ending in a tie of winners between Trinity The Tuck and Monét.

Both "Twinners" came back for All Stars 7, the all-winners season of Drag Race, where Monét made $10,000 from one lip sync win, made it to grand finale with more Legendary Legend Stars than anyone else, and finished as runner-up. Overall, Monét earned a total of $115,000 from her three Drag Race runs.

14. Symone — $120,000

The always fashionable Symone steamrolled the competition on Drag Race season 13 with maxi challenge wins that amounted to $20,000 (at $5,000 each). Symone then won the lip sync for the crown smackdown and earned the title of America's Next Drag Superstar, which came with the grand prize of $100,000.

This overall total of $120,000 puts Symone among the highest earners in Drag Race herstory.

13. Jaida Essence Hall — $127,000

Despite being plagued by new lockdown guidelines and certain controversies, Drag Race season 12 is fondly remembered as a fantastic cycle full of talented queens and with an iconic winner like Jaida Essence Hall, who made some pretty coin during her time on the show.

Jaida's season 12 run included earnings like $15,000 from three maxi challenge wins ($5,000 each), a cash tip worth $2,000 at the finale, and the $100,000 grand prize as America's Next Drag Superstar. She subsequently competed on All Stars 7 and came close to being a finalist again. In this all-winners season, she earned $10,000 from one lip sync win.

Adding it all up, Ms. Jaida won as much as $127,000 from the Drag Race franchise.

11-12. Alaska — $130,000 (tie)

Alaska didn't earn any cash prizes or tips during her original run on Drag Race season 5, but she did make a lovely $130,000 from All Stars 2. That grand total combines the $100,000 grand prize for winning All Stars 2 and the $30,000 cash tips she won from three maxi challenge (and lip sync) wins.

Longtime Drag Race fans will remember that Alaska won four maxi challenges on All Stars 2. However, that third win was during the "Revenge of the Queens" episode, which focused on the eliminated queens getting a chance to come back. As Alaska's challenge partner that week — and an eliminated queen trying to return to the competition — Alyssa Edwards got to lip sync for that cash tip instead.

11-12. Trinity The Tuck — $130,000 (tie)

Trinity The Tuck made $120,000 while competing on All Stars 4. Those earnings came from winning two maxi challenges and their subsequent lip syncs (worth $10,000 each), plus the grand prize of $100,000 at the finale — as previously noted, the full amount despite the season ending in Monét X Change and Trinity being both crowned as "Twinners."

Trinity subsequently competed on All Stars 7 and cashed in $10,000 from one lip sync win during that all-winners season of Drag Race. Adding it all up, the Tucking queen herself cashed in a sum of $130,000 as a competitor in this franchise.

10. Raja — $135,000

Raja received a grand prize of $75,000 after winning Drag Race season 3. In hindsight, she was the last crowned winner to not win the series' long-standing $100,000 prize set in season 4 and kept until season 14.

Over a decade later, the EYE-CONIC fashion queen came back to compete on All Stars 7, the all-winners season, where she made $10,000 from one lip sync win. Raja also won the Queen of She Done Already Done Had Herses lip sync smackdown at the finale, earning a cash prize of $50,000 that came with the title.

Raja's grand total earnings come up to $135,000 from her two times competing on Drag Race.

9. Shea Couleé — $150,000

Despite not winning any cash prizes on Drag Race season 9, Shea Couleé came out swinging for All Stars 5 and obliterated her competitors. Aside from earning the $100,000 that came with her All Stars crown, Shea also won $30,000 from two maxi challenge and lip sync wins: A total of $130,000.

Throughout All Stars 7, Shea won two maxi challenges and both of those lip syncs for her legacy. As a result, Shea earned $20,000 in the all-winners season. Altogether, this legendary legend queen made $150,000 from her three appearances on Drag Race.

8. Willow Pill — $159,500

Producers announced just one week before the grand finale of Drag Race season 14 that the grand prize had just been increased to $150,000, which was a significant increase from the annual $100,000 that had been awarded to winners since season 4 of the flagship series.

Besides making that full $150k for winning Drag Race, Willow Pill also won a few cash tips throughout the season: $5,000 from a maxi challenge win, $2,500 from a mini challenge win, and $2,000 from the finale tip given out to all the queens. An impressive grand total of $159,500 for Willow.

7. Nymphia Wind — $218,250

Nymphia Wind earned $218,250 during her B-A-N-A-N-A-S saga on Drag Race season 16.

Let's break it down: Nymphia made $11,250 from three maxi challenge wins, plus $5,000 from two mini challenge wins. She, along with the entire cast of season 16, received a cash tip of $2,000 at the finale. Nymphia was then crowned America's Next Drag Superstar and earned the $200,000 grand prize that comes with the title. Vote Yellow, indeed!

6. Sasha Colby — $222,000

Sasha Colby cashed in a grand prize of $200,000 after being crowned America's Next Drag Superstar in season 15 — making her the first-ever winner of a U.S. flagship season to cash in the newly-raised $200k grand prize. (For context, season 14 winner Willow Pill received a grand prize of $150,000 the previous year.)

The G.O.D.D.E.S.S. queen earned $20,000 from four maxi challenges wins ($5,000 each) throughout the competition, and also received a $2,000 cash tip at the grand finale. Altogether, Sasha made $222,000 in her flawless Drag Race run.

5. Onya Nurve — $222,500

Onya Nurve earned a total of $222,500 as the crowned winner of Drag Race season 17. This total sum combines the $200,000 grand prize, $15,000 from three solo maxi challenges wins, $2,500 from the episode 12 maxi challenge win (tied with Lexi Love), $3,000 from two mini challenge wins ($500 in episode 6; $2,500 in episode 13), and the $2,000 grand finale tip to the entire cast of the queens.

It do take Nurve to be this iconic, beloved, and a high-earner, too.

3-4. Jimbo — $230,000 (tie)

Even though Jimbo had already competed in season 1 of Canada's Drag Race and the first-ever edition of RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs. the World, she didn't actually make any money from those two runs. Thankfully, things were very different on All Stars 8 and Jimbo was well compensated for her accomplishments in Mama Ru's queendom.

Besides the $200,000 grand prize for winning All Stars 8, Jimbo also cashed in $30,000 throughout the competition. As a quick breakdown: $10,000 came from winning a lip sync for your legacy (against Silky Nutmeg Ganache), and $20,000 was earned from four maxi challenge wins (each worth a $5,000 cash tip).

All that math means that Jimbo took home $230,000 after competing on All Stars 8 and becoming the first international Drag Race star to enter the U.S. franchise's Hall of Fame.

3-4. Alyssa Edwards — $230,000 (tie)

The first-ever edition of RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars crowned the legendary Alyssa Edwards, who started her journey in Mama Ru's queendom all the way back in season 5.

During her subsequent stint on All Stars 2, Alyssa won $10,000 from a maxi challenge (and lip sync for your legacy) win, then earned a $5,000 cash tip for her "Shut Up and Drive" lip sync tie with Tatianna in the unforgettable "Revenge of the Queens" episode that brought both of them back into the competition.

In 2024, Alyssa represented the United States in the first Global All Stars season that featured her competing against 11 queens from other countries and international Drag Race spinoffs. Alyssa cashed in $15,000 from maxi challenges and lip sync wins, and then won the grand prize of $200,000 as the crowned winner of Global All Stars.

Running up the numbers, Alyssa is tied with Jimbo with a grand total of $230,000 when it comes to Drag Race earnings.

2. Ginger Minj — $291,000

Ginger Minj didn't win any cash tips in her first two Drag Race runs. Season 7 didn't hand out weekly cash tips like recent seasons do, and there was no prize for being a top 3 finalist if you didn't snatch the crown. All Stars 2 was the first U.S. cycle with a weekly in-season cash tip — $10,000 for each top 2 lip sync for your legacy winner — but Ginger's elimination in episode 3 also resulted in no earnings.

It wasn't until All Stars 6 — her third time competing — that Minj's monetizing on the show actually started. Ginger made $61,000 from that season, becoming the highest-earning non-crowned queen in Drag Race herstory. (A year later, Raja nearly tied the record by winning $60,000 on All Stars 7. Two years later, LaLa Ri beat it with total earnings of $75,500 in The Fame Games of All Stars 8.)

Ginger's winning run on All Stars 10 included $30,000 from three lip sync wins and the $200,000 grand prize for being crowned. Adding it all up, Ginger made $291,000 across four Drag Race seasons.

1. Jinkx Monsoon — $332,500

Jinkx Monsoon made $100,000 when she won RuPaul's Drag Race season 5. Then, upon returning to the all-winners season and getting crowned Queen of All Queens, she took home the franchise's first-ever grand prize of $200,000.

Over the course of All Stars 7, Jinkx's dominant track record also resulted in a cash tip of $2,500 from the Reading challenge and three lip sync wins worth $10,000 each. Between her original run and her comeback arc on All Stars, Jinkx earned a grand total of $332,500 as the first two-time Drag Race winner in herstory.