The Billboard Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, radio airplay, and online streaming, and only predominantly Spanish-language songs are allowed to rank. The chart was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986, and was originally based on airplay on Latin music radio stations. Although the chart predominantly allows Spanish-language songs, songs in English and Portuguese have charted.
The first number one song of the Hot Latin Songs chart was "La Guirnalda" by Rocío Dúrcal on September 6, 1986. As of the issue dated December 21, 2024, the chart has had 464 different number one hits, while 192 artists have reached number one (as a lead or a featured act). The current number-one song on the chart is "Tu Boda" by Óscar Maydon and Fuerza Regida. [1]
On September 6, 1986, Billboard premiered a Latin music singles chart, the Hot Latin 50. During the late 1980s, musical data was compiled by the Billboard magazine-affiliated chart and research department, with information from 70 Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and Puerto Rico. [2] Those radio stations were selected based on their number of listeners, being asked to report their playlists for the week. Since 1994, this data has been compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 120 music markets across the United States. [3] Before The Hot Latin Songs chart's inception, the Latin music information on the magazine was presented only in the form of the biweekly album sales chart, or Top Latin Albums, which continues to be listed separately. [2] There were no language restrictions on the chart, since a few songs in English and Portuguese have charted (and even reached number one) on five occasions. Three genre-specific Latin "sub-charts" were introduced and were factored into the Hot Latin Songs chart, namely Latin Pop Airplay, Regional Mexican Airplay, and Latin Tropical Airplay. A fourth sub-chart, the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart, was established in 2005 in response to the growing popularity of Latin hip hop, urbano and reggaetón music. [4]
According to the Billboard electronic database, the first number one song on the Hot Latin 50 was "La Guirnalda", by Spanish singer Rocío Dúrcal, on September 6, 1986. [5] However, in the listings included in the first printed publication of the chart, on October 4, 1986, the first number-one song was "Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó", by Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel. [6] In 2016, Billboard stated that the chart was introduced on the issue dated October 4, 1986, but the magazine's official website recognizes the previous issues from September 6, 1986, to September September 27, 1986, as well as Rocío Durcal's number one on the debut issue. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]
Due to the increasing popularity of downloads sales and streaming data, Billboard updated the methodology for the Hot Latin Songs chart on October 11, 2012, to include digital sales and streaming activity in addition to airplay, as well as making only predominantly Spanish-language songs eligible for inclusion and increasing airplay data to more than 1,200 radio stations across the United States. [12] The chart's previous methodology was formatted to the Latin Airplay chart with the Latin genre-charts now being component charts of the Latin Airplay chart.
There are several component charts that contribute to the overall calculation of Hot Latin Songs. These are:
The tracking week for sales and streaming begins on Friday and ends on Thursday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Monday to Sunday. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesday. Each chart is post-dated with the "week-ending" issue date four days after the charts are refreshed online (i.e., the following Saturday). [20] For example:
The methods and policies by which this data is obtained and compiled have changed many times throughout the chart's history.
Since October 11, 2012, the Billboard Hot Latin Songs tracks paid digital downloads and streaming activity. [12] Billboard initially started tracking downloads since January 10, 2010, with the Latin Digital Songs chart. [21] However, these downloads did not count towards Hot Latin Songs. In addition, Billboard imposed a linguistic requirement; a song must be predominantly sung in Spanish to be eligible to rank on the chart. A component Latin Streaming Songs chart was introduced on April 20, 2013, which ranks web radio streams from services such as Spotify, as well as on-demand audio titles. [22]
Billboard, in an effort to allow the chart to remain as current as possible and to give proper representation to new and developing artists and tracks, has removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding its current rank and number of weeks on the chart. A song is permanently moved to "recurrent status" if it has spent 20 weeks on Hot Latin Songs and fallen below position number 25. [23] Additionally, descending songs are removed from the chart if ranking below number 10 after 26 weeks or below number five after 52 weeks. [24]
In 2016, for the 30th anniversary of Hot Latin Songs, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 50 best-performing songs on the chart over the 30 years, along with the best-performing artists. [25] Billboard has stated that "due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods." [26] The top 20 was updated in 2018, [27] while the most current update of the list was published in September 2021. [28]
Rank | Single | Artist(s) | Year released | Peak and duration | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Despacito" | Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber | 2017 | #1 for 56 weeks [29] | [28] |
2. | "Propuesta Indecente" | Romeo Santos | 2013 | #1 for 4 weeks [29] | |
3. | "A Puro Dolor" | Son by Four | 2000 | #1 for 20 weeks [30] | |
4. | "Si Tú Supieras" | Alejandro Fernández | 1997 | #1 for 6 weeks [31] | |
5. | "La Tortura" | Shakira featuring Alejandro Sanz | 2005 | #1 for 25 weeks [32] | |
6. | "Te Quiero" | Flex | 2007 | #1 for 20 weeks [33] | |
7. | "No Me Doy por Vencido" | Luis Fonsi | 2008 | #1 for 19 weeks [34] | |
8. | "El Perdón" | Nicky Jam and Enrique Iglesias | 2015 | #1 for 30 weeks [35] | |
9. | "Bailando" | Enrique Iglesias featuring Descemer Bueno and Gente De Zona | 2014 | #1 for 41 weeks | |
10. | "Me Enamora" | Juanes | 2007 | #1 for 20 weeks |
Latin Rhythm Airplay is an airplay-only chart published weekly by Billboard that ranks the most popular songs being played on Hispanic rhythmic/hurban radio stations in the United States. The music typically heard on these stations include reggaeton, Hispanic R&B and hip hop, rhythmic pop/dance, and crossovers from English-language and/or bilingual acts.
Latin Pop Airplay is a record chart published on Billboard, an American music and entertainment magazine, and a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. The chart focuses on Latin pop music, namely Spanish-language pop music. It was established by the magazine on October 8, 1994 as a subchart of the Hot Latin Songs chart until October 2012 when the Hot Latin Songs changed its methodology. The first number-one song on the chart was Mañana by Cristian Castro. This chart features only singles or tracks and like most Billboard charts, is based on airplay; the radio charts are compiled using information tracked by from Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 140 markets across the United States. The audience charts cross-reference BDS data with listener information compiled by the Arbitron ratings system to determine the approximate number of audience impressions made for plays in each daypart. With the issue dated August 15, 2020, Billboard revamped the chart to reflect overall airplay of Latin pop music on Latin radio stations. Instead of ranking songs being played on Latin-pop stations, rankings will be determined by the amount of airplay Latin-pop songs receive on stations that play Latin music regardless of genre. The current number-one song on the chart is "Soltera" by Shakira.
The discography of Puerto Rican rapper, singer-songwriter and producer Daddy Yankee has released eight studio albums, two live albums, 112 singles, and one soundtrack. He made his debut on DJ Playero's Playero 34 mixtape, released in 1991. He was later featured on Playero's 37 and 38 albums, before releasing his first solo record in 1995, titled No Mercy. During the rest of the 1990s, he continued working on underground reggaeton records and released his first album as producer El Cartel de Yankee in 1997. After the release of his 2001 independent album El Cartel II: Los Cangris, he released his second studio album, El Cangri.com, in June 2002. It is cited as the record that made him notorious outside his natal Puerto Rico, being his music introduced in New York City and Miami. Without any major label backing him, El Cangri.com managed to peak at number 43 on the US Top Latin Albums chart. A track from the album, "Brugal Mix", became his first Billboard chart entry by peaking at number 40 on the US Tropical Songs chart in November 2002.
The year-end charts for the Hot Latin Songs chart are published in the last issue of Billboard magazine every year. Initially, the chart was based on information provided by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, which collected airplay information from Latin radio stations in the United States. On the week ending October 20, 2012, the methodology was changed to track the best-performing Spanish-language songs based on digital downloads, streaming activity, and airplay from all radio stations in the country. The Year-End charts represent aggregated numbers from the weekly charts that were compiled for each artist, song and record company.
Marty James Garton Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Chico, California. He has released albums and singles as the front man and producer of Scapegoat Wax and One Block Radius and as part of the writer-producer management division of The Core Entertainment. James co-wrote the English-language remix of Luis Fonsi's Despacito, which featured Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. The song went on to top charts in both English- and Spanish-speaking parts of the world, was nominated for three Grammys, and won numerous music awards including a Latin Grammy, Billboard Music Awards, American Music Awards, and Billboard Latin Music Awards. He also wrote the 2023 song "Religiously" for country musician Bailey Zimmerman which peaked at No.1 on the Canada Country Billboard Chart and US Country Airplay chart.
"Bailando" (transl. "Dancing") is a song by Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias for his tenth studio album Sex and Love (2014). Written by Iglesias with long-time collaborator Bueno, the first and Spanish version was released with Cuban artists Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona. Shortly afterward, the official version of the song was released by Universal Republic Records as the sixth single from the album. The song spent 41 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. "Bailando" was produced by Carlos Paucar.
Latin Airplay is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It was established on October 20, 2012.
The Billboard Latin Digital Songs, or Latin Digital Song Sales, is a record chart that ranks the best-selling Spanish-language digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by Billboard. It was introduced in the issue dated January 23, 2010 and merges all versions of a song sold from digital music distributors. Its data was incorporated in the Hot Latin Songs chart on October 22, 2012.
This is a list of notable events in Latin music that took place in 2017.
"Despacito" is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, originally written in 2015. In 2016, Luis sent the song to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee to give it an "urban injection", and released it as the lead single from Fonsi's 2017 studio album Vida.
Erika María Ender Simoes is a Panamanian-American singer and songwriter. In addition to her singing career, Ender is considered one of the most important and prolific composers in the Latin music market today. Along with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, she is the co-writer of the worldwide hit "Despacito".
"Dura" is a single by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee from his upcoming studio album El Disco Duro. On January 18, 2018, El Cartel Records released "Dura" and its music video, directed by Carlos Pérez, filmed in Los Angeles and based on 1990s style and visuals. The song was written by Daddy Yankee, Juan Rivera, Luis Romero, and Urbani Mota, and was produced by Los Evo Jedis. A remix version featuring Becky G, Bad Bunny and Natti Natasha was released on April 27, 2018.
The 25th Billboard Latin Music Awards ceremony, presented by Billboard magazine, honored the best performing Latin recordings of 2017 and took place on April 26, 2018 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Billboard presented awards in 60 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by Telemundo for the 20th time, and was the culmination of the Billboard Latin Music Conference, which also took place from April 23 to April 26, 2018. Actress Gaby Espino and television presenter Marco Antonio Regil hosted the show. Espino first presided over the 22nd Billboard Latin Music Awards held in 2015. The awards recognized the most popular Latin performers, songs, albums, labels, songwriters and producers in the United States. Recipients were based on sales, radio airplay, online streaming and social data during a one-year period from the issue dated February 4, 2017 through January 27, 2018.
The following is a list of events and releases that happened in 2018 in Latin music. The list covers events and releases from Latin regions including Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking areas of Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.
"Con Calma" (transl. "Calmly") is a song by Puerto Rican rapper Daddy Yankee featuring Canadian rapper Snow. The song was released as a single on January 24, 2019, by El Cartel Records alongside a music video directed by Marlon Peña and filmed in Los Angeles and Toronto, which features a Memoji (Animoji) of Daddy Yankee dancing with a crew. The song is a reimagination of Snow's "Informer". The song was written by Daddy Yankee, Snow, Michael Grier, Edmond Leary, MC Shan, Terri Moltke, and Play-N-Skillz, and was produced by American production duo Play-N-Skillz and co-produced by David "Scott Summers" Macias. A remix version featuring American singer Katy Perry was released on April 19, 2019. The song is also used in the 2019 film Spies in Disguise.
The following is a list of events and new music that happened or are expected to happen in 2020 in the Latin music industry. Latin regions include Ibero-America, Spain, Portugal, and the United States.