‘Un x100to’ Takes Grupo Frontera & Bad Bunny to No. 1 on Latin Airplay Chart
Written by djfrosty on May 17, 2023
Grupo Frontera achieves a feat unseen on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart in more than a decade, becoming the first act to place two regional Mexican songs at No. 1 in a single year. The group claims the first such double win since Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga in 2009.
Grupo Frontera’s “Un x100to,” with Bad Bunny, hits No. 1 on the Latin Airplay chart (dated May 20) thanks to a 20% boost in audience impressions, to 10.7 million, in the United States in the week ending May 11, according to Luminate.
The quintet secured its first champ on Latin Airplay as “Bebe Dame,” with Fuerza Regida, capped the March 25-dated ranking.
The last regional Mexican act to post two No. 1s on the tally in the same year was Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga, whose “Te Presumo” and “Me Gusta Todo de Ti” ruled for six and five weeks beginning the Feb. 28 and Dec. 26, 2009-dated lists, respectively.
Since Latin Airplay launched in November 1994, Grupo Frontera logs just the fifth instance of an act notching two regional Mexican No. 1s in a single year. Marco Antonio Solis first achieved the feat in 1996 and is the only artist to have earned the honor twice.
Find the full list below:
Acts With 2 Regional Mexican No. 1s on Latin Airplay in a Single Year:
Grupo Frontera, 2023: “Un x100to,” with Bad Bunny, “Bebe Dame,” with Fuerza Regida
Banda El Recodo de Cruz Lizárraga, 2009: “Me Gusta Todo De Ti,” “Te Presumo”
Conjunto Primavera, 2007: “Basta Ya,” “Ese”
Marco Antonio Solis, 1997: “La Venia Bendita,” “Así Como Te Conocí”
Marco Antonio Solis, 1996: “Recuerdos, Tristeza Y Soledad,” “Que Pena Me Das”
Bad Bunny, meanwhile, captures his 21st Latin Airplay champ, the seventh-most among all acts since the chart’s inception in 1994. J Balvin leads with 35 No. 1s, followed by Enrique Iglesias and Ozuna (32 each), Daddy Yankee (28), Maluma and Wisin (22 each).
Regional Mexican Throughout the Decades: Expanding on the regional Mexican genre’s momentum, as Grupo Frontera reached the No. 1 slot with “Bebe Dame” in March, the quintet brought back the format to Latin Airplay’s top spot following a three-year gap, after La Adictiva Banda San José de Mesillas’ “Escondidos” crowned for one week on Jan. 18, 2020.
This decade, so far, four regional Mexican songs have secured a spot at No. 1. “Escondidos” succeeded Alejandro Fernández’s “Caballero,” which began its two-week reign on the Jan. 4, 2020, chart, prior to Grupo Frontera’s two leaders this year.
Looking back to the Latin Airplay chart’s 1994 inception, the ’90s dispensed the most regional Mexican chart-toppers in a single decade: 18 (despite the chart debuting nearly halfway through the decade), led by the likes of Solis, Rocio Durcal, Alejandro Fernández, Juan Gabriel, Los Tigres del Norte and Selena. Almost as many – 17 – ruled during the 2000s, while nine led in the ‘10s, continuing a rich legacy for the genre.
The 2020s are on pace for around 12 regional Mexican No. 1s by the end of the decade, although the genre’s unprecedented heights on the Billboard Hot 100, led by “Un x100to” and Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma’s “Ella Baila Sola” – the first regional Mexican top 10s ever on the chart, where they currently rank at Nos. 7 and 4, respectively – suggest an even greater ceiling. A new wave of acts is fusing mariachi, norteño, banda, sierreño and corridos, as well as collaborating with artists, such as Bad Bunny, generally outside the genre.