Bad Bunny Owned 2022, Regional Mexican Made a Big Splash: The Year In Latin Charts
Written by djfrosty on December 1, 2022
Nobody has been able to unseat Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio as the year’s Top Latin Artist for the last three years, and 2022 is no different as Bad Bunny crosses the finish line at No. 1 for a fourth consecutive year.
Notably, 2022 marks the eighth straight year that a male finishes atop the ranking (since Jenni Rivera’s 2013 domination). Before Bad Bunny’s four-year rule, Ozuna was the 2018 champ, preceded by Daddy Yankee in 2017, the late Juan Gabriel in 2016, and a back-to-back command by Romeo Santos in 2014-15.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 20, 2021 through Nov. 12, 2022. The rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology details, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2022 Year-End Charts
Bad Bunny upholds his ‘YHLQMDLG’ (short for “I do whatever I want”) stance releasing all-Spanish-language tunes to global audiences without reservations. He’s secured a global fanbase thanks largely to his knack for melding rhythmic melodies with elements from multiple genres, zigzagging from one format to another within the same song, which translated into a provoking shift in Latin music. Thanks to his solid chart performance, in addition to completing the year at No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Artists chart, the Puerto Rican adds more achievements to his resumé in 2022, taking home the trophies for Top Latin Artist – Male, Hot Latin Song, and Top Latin Album.
Bad Bunny continues as the No. 1 Top Latin Artist for a fourth straight year thanks to his extraordinary success during the 2022 chart year on both the weekly Top Latin Albums chart and Hot Latin Songs chart, as well as his blockbuster concert earnings as reported to Billboard Boxscore.
His latest album, Un Verano Sin Ti, arrived at No. 1 on the weekly Top Latin Albums, Latin Rhythm Albums and all-genre Billboard 200 charts (dated May 21, 2022). On both Top Latin Albums and Latin Rhythm Albums, it spent the rest of the 2022 chart year at No. 1. On the Billboard 200, it notched 13 nonconsecutive weeks in the lead.
The set opened with 274,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week in the U.S., according to Luminate, the largest weekly sum by a Latin album during the 2022 chart year. Concurrent with the album’s debut, mammoth streaming numbers (356.66 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks) yielded a Bad Bunny monopoly of the entire top nine on the Hot Latin Songs chart the same week. In addition, he broke the record for the most simultaneous titles on the chart in the same week, placing a total of 24 on the list (23 from the album).
Benito also takes the year’s No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs recap, with “Me Porto Bonito,” a co-billed collaboration with Chencho Corleone. It hovered at No. 1 for 20 weeks on Hot Latin Songs after the superstar ceded the throne to one of his own in October: “Titi Me Preguntó.” “Bonito” concurrently earned Corleone his first champ on the multi-metric ranking.
Bad Bunny has seven of the year-end top 10 songs on the Hot Latin Songs roundup – all from his Un Verano Sin Ti album.
Karol G’s Still Got It: Karol G is No. 1 on the year-end Top Latin Artists – Female chart for a fourth consecutive year. She’s also No. 2 on the overall Top Latin Artists chart – the only female act in the top 10. The success comes after her strong showing in 2022 with her fusion of Colombian rhythmic tunes with pop and Afrobeats – and some big collaborations.
Her 2021 chart-topping album KG0516 spent nearly the entire 2022 chart year in the weekly top 10 of the Top Latin Albums chart, while she notched multiple new hits on the Hot Latin Songs chart, including two No. 1s in “Mamiii,” with Becky G, and “Provenza” (“Mamiii” also marked Becky G’s first No. 1 on the tally).
“Mamiii” spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs and also topped the weekly Latin Airplay, Latin Pop Airplay, Latin Rhythm Airplay, Latin Digital Song Sales and Latin Streaming Songs charts. The song was soon overtaken by its follow-up “Provenza.” As it debuted at No. 2 on Hot Latin Songs, Karol G became only the second woman, after Selena, to hold Nos. 1 and 2 at the same time since 1995.
“Mamiii” and “Provenza” close 2022 at Nos. 4 and 5 on the year-end Hot Latin Songs recap – the only two songs in the top five that are not by Bad Bunny.
Eslabon Armado & Ivan Cornejo Makes Waves for Regional Mexican Music: In a notable showing for the regional Mexican genre during the year, two regional Mexican acts snag the No. 1 spots on key overall Latin recaps. Eslabon Armado is the Top Latin Artist – Duo/Group, while Ivan Cornejo is the Top New Latin Artist.
Eslabon Armado hit its stride in 2022. As the group’s fifth studio album Nostalgia was released, the California-based group made a historic debut across Billboard’s albums charts: it bowed atop Regional Mexican Albums (ruling for six weeks), in the top 10 on Top Latin Albums, while becoming the first top 10-charting regional Mexican album ever on the all-genre Billboard 200. Meanwhile, “Te Encontré,” a collab with Ulices Chaidez, topped Regional Mexican Airplay for one week — its first ruler there.
On Hot Latin Songs, Eslabon Armado charted more hits during the 2022 chart year than any other duo/group – 11.
Ivan Cornejo quickly rose as a favorite among Latin artists fueled by his popularity on TikTok. He took a first shot uploading a requinto cover of regional Mexican artist Esteban Gabriel’s “Hay Niveles” with instant credit from the singer. The 18-year-old crashed in the Latin charts in Oct. 2021, scoring his first top 10 on Hot Latin Songs with single “Está Dañada.” In addition to becoming a fixture on TikTok, the track became just the second title by a regional Mexican act to snatch an entry on the Billboard Hot 100, a list devoid of regional Mexican tunes until the arrival of Gera MX and Christian Nodal’s “Botella Tras Botella” in May of 2021.
Cornejo, who captures the Top New Latin Artist honors, saw his sophomore album Dañado open at No. 1 on the weekly Regional Mexican Albums chart (and spend most of the rest of the 2022 chart year atop the list). On the Top Latin Albums tally, it reached No. 3 and spent months in the top 10.
Further, Cornejo visited the all-genre Billboard 200 for a second time, becoming the fourth regional Mexican act to secure an entry there in 2022 (trailing Junior H, Yahritza y Su Esencia and Eslabon Armado).
Yahritza y Su Esencia’s Youthful Takeover: The regional Mexican genre, meanwhile, caps off the year with a mounting presence on the Billboard charts, thanks in part to the younger generations of singer-songwriters who are setting new rules as they experiment with different sounds. Such is the case of Yahritza y Su Esencia, who finish at No. 2 on the year-end Top New Latin Artists recap.
The Mexican American outfit burst out of the gate earlier in the year with unprecedented speed as its debut single, “Soy El Único,” went viral upon its release thanks to TikTok. The momentum yielded a No. 1 start on the weekly Hot Latin Songs and a top 20 debut on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart (making the sibling trio the highest-ranked regional Mexican act in the 64-year-old chart).
“Soy El Único” closes 2022 at No. 34 on the year-end Hot Lating Songs recap while Yahritza y Su Esencia also places at No. 5 on the Top Latin Artists – Duo/Group roundup.
Dance Genre Growth: Dance generated a big impact in Latin music this year. The genre grew at a lightning-fast pace among Latin heavy hitters. A clear example is Farruko and his ubiquitous “Pepas” which led Hot Latin Songs for 14 weeks during the tracking period (a total of 26 weeks in command). The song earned the Puerto Rican – who first reached the chart in 2014 – his first No. 1 on the weekly Hot Latin Songs chart. The track closes 2022 as the No. 9 title on the year-end Hot Latin Songs recap and at No. 3 on the year-end Hot Dance/Electronic Songs roundup.
Other Latin powerhouses dabbling with EDM include Karol G, whose team-up with Tiesto, “Don’t Be Shy,” reached No. 4 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (it’s No. 35 on the year-end Hot Dance/Electronic Songs recap), while Skrillex’s partnership with Jhayco on “En Mi Cuarto” and with J Balvin on “In Da Getto” also nabbed a space on the tally (the latter is No. 37 for the year).
Further, Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez’s “Dakiti” remained in the top 10 on Hot Latin Songs for 25 weeks during the tracking frame (previously topping the list for 27 weeks). It’s No. 13 on the year-end Hot Latin Songs chart.
On a global level, Bizarrap and Quevedo’s “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52” became a major hit. The club anthem translated into the former’s first top 10 on Hot Latin Songs and the latter’s first career entry there. Plus, both acts made their first trips to the top of the Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts. On the year-end charts, it’s No. 33 on Hot Latin Songs, No. 12 on Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, No. 38 on the Billboard Global 200 and No. 21 on the Global Excl. U.S. recap.