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From Mimi Imfurst slinging India Ferrah over her shoulders to Valentina’s premonition of the COVID pandemic and Sasha Velour’s rose-petal ruse, the lip-sync format on RuPaul’s Drag Race has delivered some of reality television’s most iconic moments. Since 2009, hundreds of queens have unleashed every trick in their arsenal to lip-sync for either a) their lives, b) their legacy or c) the crown, and the internet has never stopped debating which smackdown reigns supreme.

Here, we place ourselves in great peril by ranking the 12 best lip-syncs of all time. And yes, we mean peril — because several fierce battles didn’t make the cut, and we’re fully bracing for backlash. The showdowns below were chosen for their overall impact and their enduring ability to elicit gay gasps to this very day.

Read on, and if you have strong opinions, please let us know. We! Love! It!

(FYI: not all of these lip-syncs are available on YouTube in HD, so apologies in advance for the crunchy clips.)

13. Raja vs Carmen Carrera – 'Straight Up'

Who won? Raja

It was a battle of the Heathers in this saucy season three lip-sync, which saw Raja face off against Jennifer Lopez’s close personal friend Carmen Carrera to the beat of Paula Abdul’s sensual anthem 'Straight Up'. Never has a lip-sync been so raunchy, with the two queens stripping layers off until they gyrated on each other. It was essentially soft porn and directly responsible for the sexual awakenings of millions of queers around the world. Margaret Cho’s face? Said it all.

12. Alyssa Edwards vs Coco Montrese – 'Cold Hearted'

Who won? Coco Montrese

Alyssa Edwards and Coco Montrese’s years-long rivalry came to a dramatic head after season five’s brilliant telenovela challenge – aka the challenge in which the former earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Best On-Screen Orgasm [that might need fact-checking]. Alyssa displayed all of her signature dance tricks, including a jaw-dropping jump split, while Coco’s mouth was at the forefront as she instructed the panel to watch her lip-sync to Paula Abdul’s rapid-fire lyrics. Honestly, this one could’ve gone either way.