Latin
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Karol G wrapped the Mañana Será Bonito Tour on Tuesday night (July 23) to record-breaking results. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the trek grossed $307.1 million and sold 2.3 million tickets over 62 shows.
The Mañana Será Bonito Tour spanned almost a full year, kicking off Aug. 11, 2023, at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium. Karol G played 15 stadium dates in the U.S., bringing in $138.4 million, landing at No. 1 on last year’s annual Latin recap.
Then, Karol G played 29 shows in Latin America, adding $125.4 million. Finally, she played 18 shows in Europe, topping off with another $43.4 million.
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The Mañana Será Bonito Tour is the highest-grossing Latin tour by a woman in Boxscore history, topping her own $trip Love Tour from 2022. On average, her per-show gross grew from $2.2 million on that trek, to $4.9 million on this trek. Her per-show attendance blossomed from 12,836 tickets to 36,371. And with almost double the workload – 62 shows on three continents, compared to 33 in the U.S. and Canada – her total tour gross multiplied more than four times, from $72.2 million to $307.1 million, with total attendance up 432%, from 424,000 to 2.3 million.
Karol G’s tour followed the release of its namesake album, Mañana Será Bonito. Released on Feb. 24, 2023, it became not only her first top 10 album on the Billboard 200, but her first No. 1. On a macro level, it was the first all-Spanish-language album by a woman to top the chart.
While Spanish-language music has blossomed in North America over the last decade, Karol G’s recent run of shows in Europe is particularly noteworthy. High-grossing tours by pan-generational Latin artists like Aventura, Bad Bunny, Daddy Yankee, Peso Pluma and RBD have stuck to the U.S., Canada and Latin America. Luis Miguel is playing shows in Europe this summer, though he’s exclusively in Spain. Karol G played multiple arena dates in France, Germany, Italy and more, breaking ground for Latin acts abroad.
The Mañana Será Bonito Tour ended on a high note, with four shows at Madrid’s Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. Those dates collectively earned $23.6 million and sold 220,000 tickets. Both figures set venue records, passing previous appearances by Luis Miguel, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. It’s the second highest-grossing engagement from the tour, just under the $25.4 million double-header at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.
Ultimately, the Mañana Será Bonito Tour is the 30th trek in the Boxscore archives (dating back to the mid-80s) to gross $300 million. Among women, it’s just the seventh, joining a group with stints by Beyoncé, Madonna, P!nk and Taylor Swift.
Grouped by genre, the Mañana Será Bonito Tour is only the second tour by a Latin artist to clear the $300 million threshold, barely missing the 2022 high mark set by Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour ($314.1 million). Luis Miguel will likely join them with one more update, as his current tour sits at $298.7 million through July 13. Further, Karol G is the first Latin woman to join the $300 million club.
Dating back to reports from January 2018, Karol G has grossed $400.9 million and sold 2.96 million tickets over 128 reported shows, extending her margin as the highest-grossing woman in Latin music.
Karol G attains a new milestone across the Billboard charts as her latest single, “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” lands at No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs and Latin Airplay charts, while ruling the Tropical Airplay chart for a second week, on the rankings dated July 29.
The new chart achievements land as Karol G wrapped up her Mañana Será Bonito Tour, with four sold-out shows at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid on July 23.
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On the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart, “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” ascends 2-1 with streaming and radio gains. In the tracking week of June 12-18, the song collected 12 million official U.S. streams, up 15%, according to Luminate. The sum yields a 47-44 rise on the overall Streaming Songs chart, plus her ninth No. 1 on Latin Streaming Songs with the Greatest Gainer award of the week.
Despite a 1% slip in digital sales, “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” remains at No. 1 on Latin Digital Song Sales, with 1,000 downloads sold during the same tracking frame.
In the radio world, the song reinforces its position as a summer hit, lifting 2-1 on the overall Latin Airplay tally with an 8% gain in audience impressions, to 8.2 million logged in the tracking window. There, Karol collects an 18th champ, placing her closer to her only female contender among acts with the most No. 1s: Shakira, who continues to rule among women, with 23 No. 1 songs since the overall radio ranking launched in 1994.
Diving further into the new champ, the merengue-based track wins a new term atop Tropical Airplay –and its fourth week in the upper region– after the song jumped 3-1 and Karol became the second solo woman to rule Tropical Airplay on her own this decade.
First Artist to Rule Hot Latin Songs, Latin Airplay & Tropical Airplay Since 2014:As if the new No. 1s weren’t enough, as “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” makes a splash across Billboard charts, Karol becomes the first artist to be No. 1 simultaneously on Hot Latin Songs, Latin Airplay and Tropical Airplay charts in over a decade. The last artist to pull the trick was Romeo Santos when “Odio,” featuring Drake, took over the three charts on the May 10, 2014-dated recap.
Notably, just seven months prior, Santos also seized the No. 1 slot across the three surveys with the ubiquitous “Propuesta Indecente,” on the chart dated Oct. 5, 2013.
Preceding Santos, four other artists accomplished the multilateral ruling in 2013 through three songs: Prince Royce with “Darte Un Beso” (Sept. 7, 2013), Marc Anthony through “Vivir Mi Vida” (11 weeks at No. 1, June 1-Aug. 10, 2023-dated lists), and Tito El Bambino and El Patron by “Por Qué Les Mientes,” where Marc is also featured (Jan. 19, 2013).
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Fourth Solo Woman to Lead Hot Latin Songs Since 2010:With “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” hitting No. 1 on Hot Latin Songs, Karol G racks up another chart-topper unaccompanied by another artist – a rarity for a female act. On the airplay-, streaming data- and digital sales-blended list, only three women have ruled the 50-deep tally on her own since 2010.
Here’s a review of the four female solo occupants of the summit since 2010:
Artist, Title, Peak Date, Weeks at No. 1Gloria Estefan, “Hotel Nacional,” Jan. 14, 2012, onePaulina Rubio, “Me Gustas Tanto,” Feb. 11, 2012, oneKali Uchis, “Telepatía,” May 22, 2021, eightKarol G, Provenza,” May 14, 2022, oneKarol G, “Mi Ex Tenía Razón,” Aug. 26, 2023, oneKarol G, “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” July 27
Beyond its Latin charts’ coronation, “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” makes worldwide improvements, moving from No. 7 to its new No. 5 peak on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. tally, with 53.8 million non-U.S. weekly streams, up 10%.
On the Billboard Global 200, the song boasts 65 million worldwide streams, but slips 12-13 despite a 10% gain.
07/24/2024
Plus, an honorable mention for the SoundCloud short documentary Scenes: Música Mexicana, starring Ivan Cornejo, Xavi, DannyLux & Conexión Divina.
07/24/2024
Latin music is the fastest-growing core music genre in the U.S., according to Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Report, released last week. And the power driver behind the growth is regional Mexican music.
When ranking by share point growth for the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023, Latin music outpaced genres like country, pop and rock. Latin — which is not a genre per se, but is the name given to music performed predominantly in Spanish — registered a 15.1% growth in on-demand audio streaming volume. This resulted in a total share point growth of 0.51% for the first half of 2024, far more than rock and pop (whose share growth was less than 0.3%) or country and Christian (with a less than 0.2% share growth).
Latin music’s growth has been fueled by two major factors. One is the growth of regional Mexican music, which is now the largest Latin subgenre in the U.S. The other is the fact that new music releases are streamed at a far bigger scale in Latin than in any other genre of music, suggesting that young Latin listeners are over-consuming music, a fact that has been measured by Luminate in different Latin countries before.
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According to Luminate, on-demand audio streams of regional Mexican music for the first half of 2024 stood at 13.2 million streams. That was more than Latin pop (12 million streams), Latin rhythm (10.8 million streams) and Latin tropical (2.4 million streams).
When looking at Luminate’s comparison of the “release age” composition for genre, Latin’s consumption of current music — music released within the prior 18 months — outpaces all other genres significantly. Latin genre streaming leans the most current at 35%, followed by country at around 30%. In comparison, R&B/hip-hop current streaming is at 25%. By the same token, deep catalog streaming — defined by Luminate as music older than 60 months — is lowest for Latin (close to 40%) when compared to other genres; in rock, for example, 70.5% of streams come from music older than 60 months.
The stats for Latin music are even more remarkable considering that 32% of its streams come from ad-supported on-demand video or audio, more than all other genres. This means the number of average streams needed to equal an album equivalent is higher for Latin than for other kinds of music, whose streaming consumption of premium streams is higher.
Regional Mexican, which encompasses a broad range of Mexican music subgenres, including norteño, banda, mariachi and corridos, had been the leading subgenre of Latin music in the U.S. for decades, in part because people of Mexican descent account for the vast majority of the Latin population in the country. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2022, there were approximately 37.4 million people of Mexican origin living in the United States, making up nearly 60% of the country’s Hispanic population, a percentage that’s remained relatively unchanged for decades.
Luminate
Courtesy of Luminate
But when reggaetón took over Latin music’s charts 20 years ago, the popularity of regional Mexican declined. Now, fueled by an infusion of brash new acts, regional Mexican is dominating charts and consumption.
According to Luminate, four Latin artists earned more than 100 million U.S. on-demand audio streams through the first half of 2024. Outside of Bad Bunny, who is the No. 1-streaming Latin music artist overall, those other three were Regional Mexican artists: Peso Pluma, Fuerza Regida and Junior H.
The growth of regional Mexican in the U.S. reflects a broader international trend. According to the report, Mexico is the top country to grow in global audio streaming share (based on artist country of origin), jumping from 5.29% in 2023 to 6.03% in 2024.
This suggests the base of Mexican music, and Mexican fandom, is not only strong, but has vast room for growth, continuing to fuel consumption in the U.S. and beyond.
YouTube established its coveted “Billion Views Club” in 2012, when Psy’s “Gangnam Style” made history as the first-ever music video to hit one billion views on the platform.
Since then, countless music videos have formed part of the elite music video club, including those of Latin acts such as Karol G, Daddy Yankee, Christian Nodal, Becky G, Myke Towers, Romeo Santos and Los Angeles Azules.
To date, the fastest Latin music video to reach one billion views was “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, surpassing the impressive number in only 97 days. “Mi Gente” by J Balvin and Willy William followed, reaching one billion views in 103 days.
With more than eight billion views, the former is currently the second-most-watched music video, overall, on YouTube — behind just Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark,” but above Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again,” Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” and “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, to name a few.
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Balvin, on the other hand, is the Latin artist with the most music videos in the Club, having racked up 15 in total at the time of publishing.
“The Billion Views Club represents the diverse mix of global sounds and voices that have helped make YouTube the home of music,” YouTube Music Trends manager Kevin Meenan explained in a YouTube blog post. “The list serves as a reminder of the power of the visual pairing with a great song, with the music video – alongside features like Premieres and Shorts — serving as the ultimate way for artists to share their art and vision directly with fans.”
Below, check out every Latin artist — as a lead, featured artist or collaborator — with more than five music videos to enter YouTube’s Billion Views Club:
J Balvin
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Colombian superstar Karol G officially wrapped her Mañana Será Bonito World Tour – a yearlong tour de force stint that touched base in the U.S., Latin America and Europe, with her last show in Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where she became the first artist to sell out four sold-out shows at that venue.
“Hey familia, after almost seventy nights, I’m going to say for real that tonight is going to be the coolest night of my life,” said Karol, who, for this special occasion, ditched her pink-hued locks and appeared in her iconic, teal-dyed hair at the beginning of the show. The blue hair stayed for the first 30 minutes of the show, a nod to her KG0516 era, and with it she performed hits like the fiery “TQG,” the cheeky reggaeton anthem “Mi Cama” and her breakthrough song “Tusa.”
Billed as Mañana Será Bonito Forever, the show also streamed on Karol’s official YouTube page, kicking off at 6pm ET (after the show ended in Madrid) and at one point the stream surpassed 1 million people tuning in, with hearts flooding the comments section. Meanwhile, at the Bernabéu, thousands of fans danced and sang decked out in flowery Mañana Será Bonito merch with pink cowboy hats or fluffy earmuffs as an extra nod to Karol’s Bichota Season aesthetic.
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The last show was a culmination of her extraordinary tour – and yes, extraordinary because no other women in Latin music had headlined a global stadium tour. The trek – in support of Karol’s Grammy-winning, Billboard 200-topping album by the same name – also became a top grossing event — she was the was the highest grossing Latin touring artist of 2023 — and the moment wasn’t lost on Karol who was visibly emotional during the show as she stared out at the sea of fans who chanted “Karol, Karol.”
Not much changed for her last show from previous performances (except for the hair color changes throughout the over two-hour set, going blue to red and then pink). Karol stuck to the show fans have raved about all year long singing all her old and new hits – including her latest, the merengue-powered “Si Antes Te Hubieras Conocido,” which currently sits atop the Hot Latin Songs chart.
“I always think I have the words for everything but I would like to find the words to describe how I feel as a person, as a woman, how I feel here in front of all of you, how I feel knowing that, at home, there are thousands of people watching me right now,” a tearful Karol, dressed in a gorgeous angelic white dress, told her fans. “If there is something beautiful that this journey taught me, it was to learn to love myself, I am sure that God made me unique as well as he made us all unique for a reason. This tour allowed me to find my purpose in life and that is to help people feel like I feel now after so many years of not feeling this way. I’m closing a chapter of my life that gave me everything, the closeness with my fans, with my family and after all, tomorrow was very beautiful. From my heart, I wish this for each one of you, so learn to put yourselves above many things, love yourselves very much, I love you with my life, my relationship for life is with you. Thank you!”
Making the connection even deeper with a few lucky fans fans, Karol stepped down from the stage mid-show greeting those in the front section, including little kids, and personally picking up gifts along the way; a bouquet of flowers, a stuffed unicorn, a rainbow flag and a cowboy hat.
The tears continued to flow when she performed “Mientras Me Curo del Cora,” and Iker, the little boy who was a key figure in her Mañana Será Bonito concept, appeared on stage wearing green, white and red (representing Mexico) holding a traditional Mexican rag doll as a gift for Karol. “He was my inner child in this process,” Karol said as she introduced him to her fans. The two embraced and Karol reminded everyone, “nothing matters because mañana será bonito.”
Toward the end of the show, she sang an encore of “Amargura,” this time accompanied by a salsa band, which included Emily Estefan on percussion. But right before, she expressed, “This tour changed my life, it changed the lives of many people. I feel proud to represent my home country and I feel much more proud to represent all my Latin countries. I would love to stop time and stay here crying, singing, thank you for making me so happy. I don’t want to leave, if it was up to me, I’d start the show all over again.”
But alas, all good things come to an end. And Karol officially closed with “Provenza,” the song that “started everything,” she said. “Here and those at home, let’s enjoy this moment like if it was our last and best night of our lives.”
Venesti celebrates a double win with “Es Normal,” as his latest single crowns Billboard’s Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts (dated July 27). The track is the fourth single from parent album De La Nada to enter a Billboard chart.
“It’s really important to lead the Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay charts, both for me and my team,” Venesti tells Billboard. “Actually, it’s the song we picked as (the) first single and the one I listen to the most.”
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On Latin Rhythm Airplay, “Es Normal” ascends from No. 3 to crown the 25-song ranking with a 21% gain in audience impressions, up 6.6 million, logged during the July 12-18 tracking week, according to Luminate. With the ascension, Colombian Venesti picks up his second No. 1, after the one-week takeover of “Umaye” last October.
Further, the new champ also takes indie label AP Global to its second coronation on Latin Rhythm Airplay –and third top 10 overall– after it secured its first top 10 through “Pura Maldad” in June 2023.
“When we were composing the song, I was going through a real-life situation about mistrust and chatter, so we decided to write it because so many people go through the same thing,” Venesti remembers. “When the person involved heard it, she started questioning whether I had changed. But nothing, it’s been proven that such is the case, and yes, that makes the song even more special for both, me and my team.”
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The Pop-Afrobeat “Es Normal” also stands steady at No. 1 for a second week on Latin Pop Airplay. There, it joins Venesti’s first champ, “No Es Normal,” with Nacho and Maffio, which held strong at the summit for 10 weeks, the longest-leading song in 2024 so far.
“Es Normal” joins three other songs stemming from Venesti’s debut studio album De La Nada, released Sept. 28 on AP Global. Those songs are the No. 11-peaking “Necesidad” (Latin Rhythm Airplay, Dec. 2022), and top 10s “Pura Maldad” (No. 10 high, June 2023) and as mentioned, “Umaye,” which granted Venesti his first ruler on any chart.
Beyond Latin Rhythm Airplay and Latin Pop Airplay, Venesti reaches for his third top 10 on the overall Latin Airplay, where “Es Normal,” produced by Milo Beat, jumps 8-4. The Colombian singer-songwriter and producer landed two champs previously on the overall radio ranking, both in less than a year: “Umaye” (Dec. 2023) and “No Es Normal,” with Nacho and Maffio, in March.
The 2024 Premios Juventud is just around the corner, and as tradition holds, the event will recognize artists and young people for their “extraordinary accomplishments in society, celebrating music, new artists, community and creators,” according to a press release. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news This year’s nominations […]
Last week Ricardo Montaner released Ricardo Montaner 2 (Versión Montaner), a re-recording of his 1988 album that included classics like “Tan Enamorados” and “A Dónde Va el Amor.” The new set comes less than a month after Ricardo Montaner (Versión Montaner), and is part of a broader project in which the acclaimed Latin pop singer-songwriter aims to give his old music a more contemporary sound.
“I think it has a lot to do with responsibility,” Montaner tells Billboard Español about this initial six-album project, all under his own independent label Hecho a Mano. “The sound of my music from that era does not match the technical advances available today. […] I want fans from that time to enjoy my music today and to do so under exactly the same conditions as the music people make today.”
But that is not the only motivation for the Argentine-Venezuelan musician. A contract he signed at the beginning of his career with Love Records, part of then-Venezuelan record company Sono-Rodven, did not include rights to his masters, which he says are now in the hands of Universal Music Group. (In 1995, Sono-Rodven transferred its operations to PolyGram, which was later acquired by the multinational).
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“I need my artistic legacy to pass into the hands of my children,” Montaner explains. “I never earned a penny in royalties from any of my first six albums. To this day, with more than 40 years of career, I have not received a single penny from the sales of ‘Yo Que Te Amé,’ ‘Tan Enamorados,’ ‘La Cima del Cielo,’ the album Los Hijos del Sol, the album En El Último Lugar del Mundo.“
“The contracts at that time were predatory and totally disadvantageous for the artist, so that is a very, very strong motivation. If I didn’t earn a single penny for my music at the beginning of my career and at the time when I was most successful, today I am looking to record independently so that my children will have, at least from now on, the peace of mind that the music of their father — especially the most important, the most emblematic or iconic music of his career — will pass into their hands,” he continues. “I am also complaining to the people who have the original masters, the first masters of my career, considering they have been recorded already 40 years ago. I am asking that they return them to me.”
Neither Montaner nor his team has specified whether there is a formal complaint or lawsuit, “beyond the fact that Ricardo is trying to get his masters back,” a person from his team told Billboard Español. Universal Music Latin had not replied a request for comment sent on Monday (July 22) by the time of publication.
Montaner’s re-recording of his albums — something reminiscent of Taylor Swift‘s successful “Taylor’s Version” series — is a meticulous project with “exactly the same” musical arrangements as the originals, and the art cover from the era reproduced with great detail (from set design and wardrobe to the pose of the singer) in a fun and exciting nostalgia trip.
Montaner’s voice remains practically entirely intact. The only change, besides the better sound quality, is in the freedom that comes with age and maturity.
“I recognize that today I sing ‘Me Va a Extrañar,’ ‘Tan Enamorados’, ‘La Cima del Cielo’ or ‘Yo Que Te Amé’ differently than I sang them at that time,” he admits. “But today, sitting from another angle of my life, seeing that I have nothing else to prove in the sense that these songs do not have a risk as they did at that time […] it gives me a lot more freedom to sing them.”
The next releases from the project will arrive Sept. 6 with the album Un Toque de Misterio (Versión Montaner) and the single “La Cima del Cielo (Montaner Version),” followed by En El Último Lugar del Mundo (Versión Montaner), with “Será (Versión Montaner)” as the focus single, on Nov. 1. The re-recordings of Los Hijos del Sol and Una Mañana Y Un Camino would arrive by early 2025.
After these, three more versions of later albums in Montaner’s career will come, this time only for pure pleasure: “I felt like repeating the albums Con La London Metropolitan Orchestra, which were two unforgettable projects for me,” he says excitedly, without revealing what the third one would be. “We already have Abbey Road studios booked for the beginning of November of this year to record the three versions in a single session.”
Retired from the stage at least for a while, Montaner is now enjoying going in and out of the studio while making the most of his time with his family, which includes his wife Marlene, his children Alejandro, Héctor, Mau y Ricky, and Evaluna (all musicians), as well as six grandchildren who will soon become seven with the imminent arrival of Evaluna and Camilo‘s second baby.
“I want to have time to live this,” Montaner says from Medellín, Colombia, where his wife was releasing a new book, El Libro del Corazón. He also traveled recently to Spain and to Argentina to watch his children perform. For many years, he “missed many things of Marlene and my loved ones, because I was doing my own thing, so […] I don’t want it to be once in a while and because time allowed it. Today I want to own my time and be everywhere with them.”
Ruidosa Fest, self-proclaimed as the first Latin American festival focusing on women in music, is poised to make its U.S. debut at New York City’s Lincoln Center on August 10. The festival, part of the venue’s “Summer for the City” program running from June 12 to August 10, will transform Lincoln Center into a hub of Latin music, featuring live performances, a panel, and cultural exchanges.
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Founded in 2016 by Chilean singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela, Ruidosa Fest has evolved into a prominent platform that champions visibility and opportunities for “women who make noise.”
The festival’s lineup will feature a diverse array of talent, including Valenzuela herself, along with iconic Brazilian singer Bebel Gilberto, indie synth-pop duo Buscabulla, Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe, Colombian indie pop artist Salt Cathedral, Tijuana punk rocker Bruses, Venezuelan newcomer Nella, as well as Renée Goust + Khylie Rylo, Mireya Ramos, DJ Riobamba, and more.
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The day will kick off with an industry panel titled Latinx to the Front: Nuestro Ruido Is Worldwide. The event will explore the media influence of Latin artists, moderated by radio producer Jeanne Montalvo and feature YouTube’s Stephanie Carvajal, Sirius XM’s Ellen Flores, Rolling Stone‘s Julyssa Lopez, Amazon Music’s Angie Romero, and Billboard Español‘s Sigal Ratner-Arias and Isabela Raygoza.
Motivated by a stark gender disparity at Latin American music festivals, Ruidosa Fest was conceived after discovering that women constituted only 9.5% of acts at surveyed festivals in 2016 and 2017, a figure marginally improved to 22.5% when considering mixed-gender groups. This deep-seated imbalance spurred the creation of Ruidosa Fest, dedicated to enhancing the representation and contributions of female performers inside the industry.
The performances will begin on August 10 at 4:30 p.m. ET. For further details about the full schedule and more, visit the event’s website.
Ruidosa Fest
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