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Jimmy Humilde hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Producers chart (dated Feb. 4) for the first time, thanks to nine production credits on the Hot Latin Songs survey.
Leading the charge is Fuerza Regida and Grupo Frontera’s “Bebe Dame,” at No. 2 on Hot Latin Songs. The track, which topped the chart two weeks earlier, tallied 15 million U.S. streams, 2.7 million radio airplay audience impressions and 2,000 downloads sold in the Jan. 20-26 tracking week, according to Luminate.
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Here’s a look at all nine of Humilde’s production credits on this week’s Hot Latin Songs chart:
Rank, Artist Billing, Title (co-producers in addition to Jimmy Humilde):No. 2, Fuerza Regida X Grupo Frontera, “Bebe Dame” (Jesús Ortiz Paz, Edgar Barrera, Miguel Armenta)No. 12, Junior H X Oscar Maydon, “Fin de Semana”No. 21, Fuerza Regida X Edgardo Nuñez, “Billete Grande” (Jesús Ortiz Paz)No. 22, Fuerza Regida X Natanael Cano, “Ch y La Pizza” (Jesús Ortiz Paz)No. 26, Fuerza Regida X Grupo Frontera, “911 (En Vivo)” (Jesús Ortiz Paz, Grupo Frontera, Edgar Barrera)No. 29, Chachito feat. Junior H, “En París”No. 36, Junior H & Gabito Ballesteros, “Vamos Para Arriba”No. 46, Junior H Con Banda, “El Hijo Mayor”No. 49, Oscar Maydon X El Padrinito Toys, “Los Collares”
Humilde succeeds Bizarrap, who hit No. 1 on Latin Producers a week earlier, and now ranks at No. 2. Bizarrap supplanted MAG, Bad Bunny’s go-to producer, who spent 38 weeks at the summit, including every week since the May 21, 2022, ranking, when Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti arrived on Billboard‘s charts. Only Tainy has spent more time at No. 1 than MAG, with 119 total weeks.
Humilde is the founder and CEO of regional Mexican label Rancho Humilde, which finished at No. 4 on Billboard’s 2022 year-end Hot Latin Songs Labels recap. The label’s roster includes Natanael Cano, Junior H and Fuerza Regida.
Humilde scored his first production credits on the Hot Latin Songs chart in 2018, via El De La Guitarra’s “A Lo Lejos Me Veran” and “El Monstro 7,” which peaked at Nos. 24 and 38, respectively.
“Bebe Dame” recently brought Humilde his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 as a producer, when the track debuted on the chart dated Jan. 7 at No. 91; it ranks at No. 32 on the latest list, a week after reaching No. 25.
Over on Billboard’s Latin Songwriters chart, Humilde’s collaborator Edgar Barrera logs a 15th week at No. 1, thanks for four songwriting credits on Hot Latin Songs. Here’s a recap:
Rank, Artist Billing, Title (co-songwriters in addition to Edgar Barrera)No. 2, Fuerza Regida X Grupo Frontera, “Bebe Dame” (Jesús Ortiz Paz, Miguel Armenta)No. 3, Carin Leon X Grupo Frontera, “Que Vuelvas”No. 7, Manuel Turizo, “La Bachata” (Manuel Turizo, Casta, Rios, Juan Diego Medina)No. 26, Fuerza Regida X Grupo Frontera, “911 (En Vivo)” (Horacio Palencia, Nathan Galante, Salvador Hurtado)
Barrera’s 15 weeks at No. 1 mark the third-most in the chart’s history, after only Bad Bunny (95) and Tainy (24).
The weekly Latin Songwriters and Latin Producers charts are based on total points accrued by a songwriter and producer, respectively, for each attributed song that appears on the Hot Latin Songs chart. As with Billboard‘s yearly recaps, multiple writers or producers split points for each song equally (and the dividing of points will lead to occasional ties on rankings).
The full Latin Songwriters and Latin Producers charts, in addition to the full genre rankings, can be found on Billboard.com.
Bad Bunny was all smiles and nerves while presenting his longtime manager, Noah Assad, with the Executive of the Year award at Billboard‘s 2023 Power 100 event on Wednesday (Feb. 2) at Goya Studios.
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After being introduced by Leila Cobo, Billboard‘s Chief Content Officer Latin/Español, the global sensation, who typically opts to publicly speak in Spanish, decided to give English a try, lightheartedly joking with the crowd, “Tonight is a special night not because my friend is winning this award, it’s more because I’m making my first English speech ever.” He was met with supportive applause and cheers, with a handful of attendees encouraging him to speak in Spanish anyway. Nevertheless, El Conejo Malo found middle ground, sharing a heartfelt speech in a mix of both languages.
“I know my man doesn’t like this kind of thing — this attention, the speech, this corny s–t,” he said amidst laughter from the crowd. “This award means a lot to me, the same way that my own awards mean a lot for him. It’s because this award is the proof that I’m not working alone, that dreams come true, but it’s never only by yourself. It’s always about team work.”
Together, the dynamic Puerto Rican pair have achieved unprecedented heights in Spanish and English markets, including Bad Bunny’s first of two tours in 2022, El Último Tour del Mundo, boasting the top sales day for any tour on Ticketmaster (since Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II tour went on sale in 2018), selling out nearly half a million tickets in less than a week. Four months after the tour closed, Bad Bunny commenced his World’s Hottest Tour stadium run, which made him the first artist to ever achieve separate $100 million-plus tours in the same calendar year. The global pop star’s 81 concerts in 2022 grossed $434.9 million, which marked the highest calendar-year total for any artist since the launching of Billboard Boxscore in the 1980s, posing it to become the biggest Latin tour ever.
“I came from a family of three brothers, I’m the oldest one,” Bad Bunny continued. “I never felt what it was like to have a big brother. So I want to thank Noah for being a friend, a partner and being like a big brother to me. I know that it’s tough, no soy facil, but I want to thank him for believing in me from the first day. Not just believing, but making those dreams and that vision real.”
Toward the end of his speech, the Puerto Rican phenomenon appeared to choke up under his sunshine-yellow New York Yankees fitted cap. “I want to thank him for inspiring me to dream bigger, to be a better person. To be more like you,” he directed to Assad. “There’s no big Bad Bunny superstar without Noah Assad. So if you ask me what it feels like to be the number one artist in the world, I have to say, I’m not. Noah is. We are the best. Lo mas hijo de p–a from Puerto Rico.”
As Bad Bunny foreshadowed in his sweet speech, Assad was a man of few words, more comfortable in the “big brother” role as Benito described it: in the wings cheering on his superstar friend. The pair shared a warm embrace before Bad Bunny playfully took the mic with him off stage to spare Assad the public speaking. “He had me crying in the corner,” Assad began. In the end, the mega exec offered a few profound words, shouting out his and Benito’s hometown of Carolina, Puerto Rico, and showering the rapper with praise, as the artist had just done for Assad.
“Everything we do, we do it to Puerto Rico, to the world. I’m honored to be the first Latin [to win this award] even though I don’t look like it,” he joked. “I want to thank Billboard. Billboard has always covered Latin. They never undervalue us in any way. They treat us as equal as the global American market. We have to be very grateful for that. At the end of the day, me and Bunny are products of thousands of people who work very hard on our island. All those walls they had to break down. There are a lot more stories to be told. This is only chapter one.”
Thanking his team back in Puerto Rico who couldn’t be at the event, Assad was brought to tears. “No one wins championships alone,” he says. “It kills me that [my team] isn’t here today. They’re everything.”
Billboard‘s Latin & Spanish Artists to Watch Class of 2023 has been unveiled.
The 23 artists that comprise the wide-ranging list include Mexican artist Bratty, who will be performing at the 2023 Coachella Festival; Victor Cibrian, whose raspy voice is bringing a fresh take to the corrido movement; and Grupo Frontera, who since going viral last year, has become the only Regional Mexican act to achieve three songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, to name a few.
Representing Brazil is powerhouse performer Ludmilla, who has been rising to the top with her baile funk versatility that spans pop, trap, R&B and more. “I think of funk as an agent of change, especially in the lives of so many peripheral people who don’t have opportunities,” she told Billboard Español.
From Spain, there’s acts such as Rels B who’s monthly listeners on Spotify rose from 15.6 million in November to 17.6 million today, and placed two songs on Spain’s Promusicae year-end charts: the more urban “Mi Luz” alongside RVFV at No. 21 and his urban/pop “Cómo dormiste” at No. 86.
Every year, Billboard’s Latin staff compiles a list of artists to watch in the coming months. In honor of 2023, we are spotlighting 23 Latin and Spanish acts that cover a broad variety of Latin music genres, from pop to reggaetón to R&B, música Mexicana and rock.
We want to know which of 2023’s Latin & Spanish Artist to Watch is your favorite. You can check out the list here, and vote in the poll below.
Gabito Ballesteros, Peso Pluma and Natanael Cano all team up to score their first appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 as “AMG” debuts at No. 92 on the latest Feb. 4-dated chart.
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The song, which the trio released Nov. 24 via Los CT/Rancho Humilde/Worms/Prajin Parlay/Prajin/Warner Latina, arrives almost entirely from its streaming sum: 5.8 million official U.S. streams (up 24%) in the Jan. 20-26 tracking week, according to Luminate.
The track concurrently jumps 15-10 on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart, becoming the first top hit for Ballesteros and Pluma, and the second for Cano. “AMG” also ascends 62-50 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and 71-50 on the Billboard Global 200.
TikTok has helped grow the song’s profile, as a portion of it has been used in over 160,000 videos on the platform to date. (TikTok does not contribute to Billboard‘s charts.)
Singer-songwriter Ballesteros is new to Billboard’s charts. “AMG” marked his first appearance when it debuted on Hot Latin Songs (Dec. 10). He scored his second entry last week (charts dated Jan. 28), when his collaboration with Junior H, “Vamos Para Arriba,” opened at No. 32 Hot Latin Songs survey — it dips to No. 36 this week.
Peso Pluma first reached a Billboard chart last April when “El Belicón,” with Raul Vega, debuted at No. 50 on Hot Latin Songs (before peaking at No. 46 two weeks later). The singer-songwriter has since charted four additional Hot Latin Songs hits: “Siempre Pendientes,” with Luis R. Conriquez (No. 27 peak in November); “El Gavilán,” with Conriquez and Tony Aguirre (No. 41, December); “Igualito A Mi Apá,” with Fuerza Regida (No. 45, January); and now “AMG.”
“Siempre Pendientes” also became Peso Pluma’s first global chart hit, as it reached No. 155 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 174 on the Global 200.
At just 21 years old, Cano is already a fairly seasoned hitmaker on Billboard’s charts. The Mexican rapper-singer has tallied 11 entries on Hot Latin Songs, dating to his first, “Soy El Diablo,” with Bad Bunny, in November 2019. Of those, one has climbed to the top 10: “Amor Tumbado” (No. 8, February 2020). He has also charted seven titles on the Top Latin Albums chart, including two top 10s: Corridos Tumbados (No. 4, 2019) and A Mis 20 (No. 9, 2021).
Corridos Tumbados also spent 31 weeks at No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart. That’s the fourth-longest reign in the chart’s history, after Selena’s Amor Prohibido (97 weeks), Christian Nodal’s Me Dejé Llevar (73) and Eslabon Armado’s Corta Venas (54).
Cano is signed to Republic Records via Rancho Humilde. In May 2022, he signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. “Nata is a unique talent, who, at such a young age, has already secured his legacy in the industry,” WCM’s president, U.S. Latin & Latin America, Gustavo Menéndez said at the time. “He has an incredible delivery with an uncanny penmanship as a songwriter, no matter the genre.”
Producer Alex Garza and music executive Gerardo Vergara have joined Estrella Media Music Entertainment (EMME), the Los Angeles-based company tells Billboard.
In his role, Garza — who founded Arpa Music Publishing, where he represents artists such as Espinoza Paz, Horacio Palencia and Joss Favela — will oversee music production and publishing and serve as an in-house music producer.
As director, Vergara will manage the roster, catalog, and business opportunities for EMME, as well as new artist signings and development. Having worked in the industry for over 15 years, he’s helped develop the careers of regional Mexican music artists such as Gerardo Ortiz and Luis Coronel. He was previously gm of Green Dream, the management and social media company behind Pepe Aguilar.
“Adding Gerardo and Alex to EMME is the completion of our dream team,” said Eddie Leon, executive vp of radio programming and events for Estrella Media who also oversees EMME. “Both bring a wealth of knowledge and contacts within the music industry that will help in our development of the next Regional Mexican stars. In addition, they will be instrumental in managing Estrella’s IP from its numerous series, events, and awards shows. EMME will give artists, songwriters, and composers a unique and culturally relevant path to develop their talent, fan base and culture.”
The multi-platform media company’s music division launched in April with longtime radio programmer and television personality Pepe Garza as head of content development and A&R. EMME includes a label and publishing arm and aims to “develop the next generation of Latin music stars.”
Romeo Santos and Rosalía add new career No. 1s on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart as their first collaboration, “El Pañuelo,” rules the Feb. 4-dated ranking.
The song rises 3-1 with 9.9 million audience impressions, an 8% gain, earned in the U.S. in the week ending Jan. 26, according to Luminate.
Rosalía scores her third straight No. 1, and second through a bachata. Thanks to “El Pañuelo,” Santos becomes the fourth artist to accumulate at least 18 No. 1s since Tropical Airplay chart launched in 1994. He joins Marc Anthony, who leads with 35, followed by Victor Manuelle (29), and Prince Royce (22).
The new No. 1 also marks the 10th time a pair-up comprising a female and a male on lead role has reached No. 1 since the chart’s inception. Let’s look back:
Peak Date, Title, Artist, Weeks at No. 1
Aug. 15, 1998, “Corazón Encadenado,” Gisselle & Sergio Vargas, one
June 26, 1999, “No Me Ames,” Jennifer López & Marc Anthony, seven
June 18, 2016, “La Bicicleta,” Carlos Vives & Shakira, one
Dec. 31, 2016, “Olvídame y Pega La Vuelta,” Jennifer López & Marc Anthony, two
April 29, 2017, “Deja Vu,” Prince Royce & Shakira, 11
Oct. 26, 2019, “La Mejor Versión de Mí,” Natti Natasha & Romeo Santos, 15
May 29, 2021, “Víctimas Las Dos,” Victor Manuelle & La India, one
May 28, 2022, “Te Espero,” Prince Royce & Maria Becerra, four
Dec. 3, 2022, “Monotonía,” Shakira & Ozuna, nine
Feb. 4, 2023, “El Pañuelo,” Romeo Santos & Rosalía
Further, Santos also unlocks another achievement on the current chart: “Solo Conmigo,” his latest single, takes the Greatest Gainer award, rising 19-12 with a lofty 310% gain in audience, to 2 million. Plus, “Sin Fin,” with Justin Timberlake, holds at No. 9 for a second week (after its previous No. 1 debut last September), while “Siri,” with Chris Lebron, dips 18-22. All songs are on Santos’ latest album, Formula, Vol. 3, which crowned Tropical Albums for 15 weeks.
Beyond its Tropical Airplay coronation, “El Pañuelo” bests its previous Latin Airplay ranking with a 3-2 jump.
Rosalía and her highly-regarded manager, Rebeca León, have amicably parted ways, Billboard has learned. The split comes after an almost six-year stint that saw Rosalía rise from unknown flamenco artist to global superstar. Prior to working closely with Rosalía, León helmed the careers of fellow superstars J Balvin and Juanes.
The split, which sources say was agreed upon under good terms, leaving both parties with “gratitude and pride for everything they have accomplished together,” allows both León and Rosalía to explore new paths. Rosalía has yet to announce new management.
León will focus her energy on her production company, Lionfish Studios, with which she closed a content deal with Sony Music last year. Projects in development include Alice with Gunpowder & Sky; Redemption Song with Fifth Season and director Jessica Kavanaugh; Mona Carmona with José Ignacio Valenzuela, Paul Pérez Pictures, Malule Entertainment and Lucas Akoskin; and Biscayne Baby with Sebastian Ortega and Enrique Murciano, in addition to a project León is developing with Steven Levinson for HBO.
Last year, León was also a co-producer of the Father of the Bride remake starring Andy García. León will also continue working in music projects, including management of st. pedro and a partnership with BRESH via her music company, Lionfish Entertainment.
Rosalía, fresh from performing at the Louis Vuitton men’s show in Paris in January, is in the midst of prepping a series of festival dates, including headlining Lollapalooza in Argentina and Chile and playing the main stage at Coachella in April. She is also close to announcing a deal with Coca-Cola, according to sources.
The León-Rosalía manager-client partnership was widely regarded as one of the most successful in the music industry. In a narrative that closely mimics the movie-like storyline of how a brilliant manger takes a hugely talented unknown artist and makes her a star, León signed Rosalía after watching her perform in Madrid in 2017, at the urging of her then-client Juanes.
At the time, Rosalía was a highly respected and unorthodox flamenco artist, little known outside Spain. Rosalía told Billboard in 2019, “I had never met any manager nor had I had a manager.”
Rosalía told León she was looking for someone to internationalize her and her music and help her grow.
León was hugely impressed.
“I’m never looking for another artist,” she told Billboard in the same interview. “But she was captivating. She was inspiring.” The following day, she watched Rosalía’s videos and saw yet another realm of possibilities.
“She sang flamenco and then she sang hip-hop. Her movement, her attitude, I thought, that’s going to change everything. She had reinvented something.”
Rosalía was in the process of signing with Sony Music Spain, and under León, moved to Columbia in a joint deal with the label.
In the five years that followed, she became perhaps the most elite Latin artist in recent history, recording with the likes of Billie Eilish and The Weeknd, and becoming the first artist that sings in Spanish to ever be nominated for best new artist at the Grammys. She went on to best Latin rock, urban or alternative album for El Mal Querer, which also won album of the year at the Latin Grammys.
Last year, her Motomami also won album of the year at the Latin Grammys and is once again nominated for the since-renamed best Latin rock or alternative album award at the Grammys.
All told, Rosalía has placed six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and 17 on Hot Latin Songs, including six top 10s.
Every year, Billboard’s Latin staff compiles a list of artists to watch in the coming months. In honor of 2023, we are spotlighting 23 Latin and Spanish acts that cover a broad variety of Latin music genres, from pop to reggaetón to R&B, música Mexicana, and rock.
In true fashion, Billboard Latin’s Artists to Watch list does not focus on brand new talent, but rather, on artists who have already made an impact, be it in the charts, media, streaming platforms, or public consciousness, and who we believe will make significant strides in their careers in the coming year.
A significant number of rising Mexican acts are on the list, like Bratty, who with her charming lo-fi pop tunes will be performing at the 2023 Coachella Festival; Victor Cibrian, whose raspy voice is bringing a fresh take to the corrido movement; and Grupo Frontera, who since going viral last year, has become the only Regional Mexican act to achieve three songs on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart, to name a few.
All eyes are also set on the latest generation from Spain, including acts such as Quevedo, whose electro-urban fusions got international traction with his Bizarrap-assisted “BZRP Music Session, Vol. 52” and Pol Granch, who was nominated for best new artist at the 2022 Latin Grammys. On the list are also a wave of fierce and unapologetic Boricuas, like Villano Antillano, authentically making a name for themselves in a male-dominated industry.
Additionally, we recognize artists such as Grupo Marca Registrada and Lasso, who’ve been hustling in the biz for over a decade and thanks to their new-found social media virality have not only gotten more fans but also their first-ever Billboard hits in 2022.
Some of the names on our list will be known to you, some will not. But we believe that all will make their next big mark in 2023. Below are Billboard’s 23 Latin and Spanish acts to watch in 2023, listed in alphabetical order.
Ahead of the Grammys this weekend, best new artist nominee Anitta is back for part two of her Billboard interview, sharing more of the backstory along with her plans for the next phase of her career.
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“I really wanted this because I heard so many times that it was impossible, and I wanted to prove that it was not, someone can do this,” Anitta says of the days she spent hustling in her native Brazil to make her career happen. When she was faced with the argument that Brazilians couldn’t cross over in the States, she says she simply “could not accept it.”
She tracks her hustling days, recalling the era when she’d perform in Brazil on Friday, Saturday and Sunday then fly to the States to network during the week, before flying back to Brazil to play shows on the weekend, all while taking English lessons and doing studio sessions in English to get used to recording in the language. “It was crazy,” she says, adding that she was “so tired.”
But of course, the work paid off, with Anitta crossing over in the States, particularly upon the release of her 2022 album, Versions of Me, and its big single “Envolver.” Of this success, Anitta says fans in her home country “are super happy and very supportive of me, whenever ‘Envolver’ was starting to get really really big on the charts out of Brazil, the Brazilians, they saw it and were like, ‘If you love your nation, you’ve gotta play this song.’ … When it was No. 1 global, it was a holiday.”
Anitta also reveals that she “for sure, definitely” will end her singing career in the next five or six years, saying that she loves “change, challenges and trying news things” and is eager to develop her acting career. (She notes that she’s already been invited to appear in a number of films.)
Given her penchant for both hustle and success, money is on Anitta achieving anything she sets out to get. Watch the complete interview above, and tune in to the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS to see if Anitta wins for best new artist.
After the release of Camilo and Camila Cabello‘s music video for “Ambulancia,” the collaboration returns to Billboard’s Feb. 4-dated Hot Trending Songs chart at No. 1.
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Billboard’s Hot Trending charts, powered by Twitter, track global music-related trends and conversations in real-time across Twitter, viewable over either the last 24 hours or past seven days. A weekly, 20-position version of the chart, covering activity from Friday through Thursday of each week, posts alongside Billboard’s other weekly charts on Billboard.com each Tuesday, with the latest tracking period running Jan. 20-26.
“Ambulancia” was released Sept. 6, 2022, alongside Camilo’s full-length album De Adentro Pa Afuera. The album peaked at No. 28 on the Top Latin Albums chart dated Sept. 24, 2022.
Now the album’s latest radio single (it concurrently debuts at No. 17 on Tropical Airplay), the video for “Ambulancia” premiered Jan. 24 and features starring roles from both performers.
“Ambulancia” bows ahead a slew of new releases, led by Chloe’s “Pray It Away,” which starts at No. 2. Released Jan. 27 but teased beginning on Jan. 25, “Pray” is the first taste of Chloe’s debut studio album, In Pieces, due in March.
Zara Larsson’s new single, “Can’t Tame Her,” follows at No. 3, while songs from new LPs and EPs by Trippie Redd, Quevedo and Ice Spice round out the top 10.
Keep visiting Billboard.com for the constantly evolving Hot Trending Songs rankings, and check in each Tuesday for the latest weekly chart.