Billboard Latin pop charts
The Billboard Latin pop charts began in 1985 when an album chart were introduced as Latin Pop Albums in the June 29 issue of the magazine. In October 1994, Billboard then established Latin Pop Airplay, which initially rank the most-played songs played on Latin pop radio stations before switching to an audience-based methodology in August 2020. As the music and radio industries, as well as the technology to monitor and measure sales and airplay, have evolved, Billboard currently publishes three different Latin pop charts. On April 8, 2025, Billboard debuted the Hot Latin Pop Songs chart, which ranks the best-performing Latin pop songs across streaming, digital, and airplay from all radio stations in the United States.
By "Latin pop", Billboard generally refers to the genre as Spanish-speaking pop music, including pop ballads, mid-tempo or up-tempo pop as well as pop-rhythmic and pop-dance tunes.[1][2]
History
[edit]Latin Pop Albums
[edit]The Latin Pop Albums chart was established on the issue dated June 29, 1985. Initially, it was published on a fortnightly basis with its positions being compiled by sales data from Latin retailers and distributors.[3] The methodology for the chart was amended with the effect from the week of July 10, 1993, to have its sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan, basing it on electronic point of sale data. At the same time, the chart began to be published weekly and became a sub chart of Top Latin Albums (which was established in the same week as the methodology change). Billboard also imposed a linguistic rule requiring an album to have 70% of its content in Spanish (later reduced to 50%) to be eligible to rank on the chart.[4][5] On January 26, 2017, Billboard updated the Latin Pop Albums, along with the other genre album charts, to incorporate track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA) to match the current Billboard 200 methodology.[6]
The first number-one album on the Latin Pop Albums chart was Reflexiones by José José.[7]
Latin Pop Airplay
[edit]The Latin Pop Airplay was established on October 8, 1994, as a subchart of the Latin Airplay chart. It ranked the top-performing songs played on Latin pop radio stations in the US based on weekly airplay data compiled by Nielsen's Broadcast Data Systems (BDS).[8] 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 are determined by the amount of airplay Latin-pop songs receive on stations that play Latin music regardless of genre.[2]
The first number-one song on the Latin Pop Airplay chart was "Mañana" by Cristian Castro.[9]
Hot Latin Pop Songs
[edit]On the issue dated April 12, 2025, Billboard established Hot Latin Pop Songs which ranks the best-performing Latin pop songs which follows the methodology of the Billboard Hot 100 by incorporating digital download sales, streaming data, and radio airplay of Latin pop songs over all formats. The first number-one song on the Hot Latin Pop Songs chart was "Ojos Tristes" by Selena Gomez, Benny Blanco, and The Marías.[10]
References
[edit]- ^ "Debut for New Latin Charts". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 26. June 29, 1985. p. 3. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on November 4, 2020. Retrieved December 23, 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Bustios, Pamela (August 11, 2020). "Billboard Introduces Revamped Latin Pop Airplay Chart". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
- ^ Trust, Gary (March 19, 2010). "Ask Billboard: Battle Of The Rock Bands, Part 2". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 3, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- ^ "Billboard's Latin Charts Switch to SoundScan". Billboard. July 10, 1993. pp. 4, 71. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved January 19, 2013 – via Google Books.
- ^ Lannert, John (July 10, 1999). "Latin Notas". Billboard. Vol. 111, no. 28. p. 48. Retrieved December 27, 2013.
- ^ "Billboard's Genre Album Charts Will Now Incorporate Streams & Track Sales". Billboard. January 26, 2017. Retrieved April 9, 2025.
- ^ "Latin Pop Albums – The Week of June 29, 1985". Billboard. June 29, 1985. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
- ^ Lannert, John (November 12, 1994). "Latin Notas". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 46. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 37. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on February 11, 2023. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
- ^ "Latin Pop Airplay: Week of October 8, 1994". Billboard. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
- ^ Bustios, Pamela (April 9, 2025). "Bad Bunny, Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco Lead Billboard's Inaugural Latin Genre Song Charts". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 8, 2025. Retrieved April 9, 2025.