For the first time in history, an all-Spanish-language act is the biggest artist in the world.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — better known as Puerto Rican rap-reggaeton titan Bad Bunny — is dominating the global music market. He has been the world’s most-streamed artist on Spotify for two consecutive years. His fourth studio album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after its release in May and has spent 12 non-consecutive weeks there — that’s three months — making it not only the longest-running Spanish-language album at the top of the chart, but the first to hold the position for that length of time since Drake’s “Views” six years ago. Bunny’s previous albums (including a greatest-hits collection and a collaborative set with Colombian reggaeton powerhouse J Balvin) have been certified three, six, eight, 10 and 24 times platinum in the U.S. alone.
Also this year, he became the only artist in history to stage two separate $100 million-grossing tours in less than 12 months, between his El Último Tour Del Mundo arena trek and his current World’s Hottest Tour stadium campaign, which recently rampaged across the U.S. for seven weeks — selling out two successive nights at both New York’s Yankee Stadium and Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium — and will spend the next two months on an even more frenzied 22-date tour across Latin America.
To use a geographically ill-suited metaphor, Bad Bunny’s success is just the tip of the iceberg for the soaring success of Spanish-language music in the U.S. Karol G, Becky G, Rosalia, Rauw Alejandro, Anitta and many more have released critically feted and/or commercially successful albums and singles in recent months, and powered by streaming, Latin music has shown dramatic growth in popularity in the U.S. over the past decade.
But will this success be reflected at what Bad Bunny has called the “gringo Grammys” — the 65th annual awards, taking place Feb. 5 in Los Angeles, for which nominations come out Nov. 15? Latin music has several awards shows of its own, most notably the Latin Grammys, and the main show has six Latin-specific genre awards (of which Bad Bunny has won two). But the big honors — album, song and record of the year — have traditionally been a walled garden for many genres.
“If there has ever been a time to have the growth of Latin music reflected in the Grammys, it’s now,” says Maykol Sanchez, Spotify’s head of artist and label partnerships for Latin America and U.S. Latin. “Latin artists no longer like to be bucketed into a minority space and should be highlighted as the global stars they are. Latin music is mainstream music.”
The numbers bear out his stance. The Latin population in the U.S. has seen historic and fast-paced growth over the past 50 years, rising from 9.6 million in 1970 to 50.5 million in 2010 and 62.1 million in 2020, according to Pew Research Center. In 2021, the Recording Industry Assn. of America found that Latin market revenue in the U.S. had increased by 35% ($886 million) over the previous year — the highest jump in its history (before adjusting for inflation) — with streaming accounting for 97% ($857 million) of that figure.
And Latin music, which was always a catch-all term for multiple musical styles, has also seen the popularity of many of its genres grow exponentially. “A few years back, most of the Latin tracks that charted globally were reggaeton or pop,” adds Sanchez. “But this year we have seen a consumption fluidity trend [that is] it is very visible within Latin music, even more so among young audiences.” (The cross-pollination between artists of different regions has caused an influx of new Spanish-language genres, like Cuba’s guaracha and Argentinean trap.)
“For six consecutive years, Latin music in the U.S. has continued to show double-digit growth,” notes Antonio Vásquez, Spotify’s head of U.S. Latin editorial. And yet, “the size and potential that Latin music consumers have in the U.S. is still overlooked.”
Indeed, regardless of its huge popularity and commercial success, and despite the Recording Academy’s recent efforts to diversify its membership and the genres of music represented at the awards, Latin music may be facing the same uphill climb that hip-hop — which is indisputably the most popular, influential and culturally significant musical genre of the past 25 years — continues to confront. Rap-leaning artists have won album of the year just twice, and not for nearly 20 years (Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Outkast in 2004). And with Adele, Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar and Lizzo all in 2023 contention, it doesn’t seem likely that a Latin star will take that big prize this year.
“Bad Bunny is one of the biggest stars in the world and he’s transcending Latin into pop culture. But I don’t know if I see him winning” in a major category, says one Grammy insider. “Nominated, yes, because it’s such a big record. But I’d be very surprised if he won.”
Of course, a key factor for hip-hop in beginning to break down those walls was crossover: There’s no question that “Walk This Way,” Run-DMC’s 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith, played a big role in bringing the genre into the mainstream. As Latin music’s popularity has grown, so has the number of artists crossing over — in both directions: Bachata singer Romeo Santos has famously guested Drake, Justin Timberlake, Lil Wayne and others on his albums, while the Weeknd (singing in decent Spanish) and Ed Sheeran and have hopped on tracks by Rosalía and Balvin.
Edgar Barrera, the Latin Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter behind Camila Cabello and Sheeran’s “Bam Bam” and other hits by artists ranging from Ariana Grande to Banda El Recodo, says working in the realm of crossovers “has been a complete 180 from a couple of years ago. General-market artists and producers are crossing over to do Latin collaborations, whereas the inverse was happening two to three years ago.”
Some artists are going both ways. If 2022 had a representative for successful international crossovers, it would most likely be Anitta. Since launching her career in 2010, the 29-year-old Brazilian has charted with funk carioca and pop hits in her native Portuguese, as well as Spanish and English, and her catalog includes collaborations with artists ranging from Missy Elliot and Madonna to Caetano Veloso and Maluma. Her second multilingual album, “Versions of Me,” including the global chart-topper “Envolver,” was executive produced by OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and ranges stylistically from reggaeton and pop to Afrobeats to pop-punk.
“I think the industry still has a long way to go in becoming more inclusive of global voices, especially women’s global voices,” Anitta tells Variety. “But I think recently award shows like the Grammys and the VMAs have taken steps forward in showcasing global artists. When I became the first female solo artist to win best Latin at the VMAs [this year], it was such a rewarding moment for me — especially as a woman from the Brazilian ghetto who sings funk music.”
Yet like Bunny, some shun crossing over. While Karol G did not release an album during 2023’s Grammy eligibility period (her “KG0516” was nominated for música urbana album at the 2022 ceremony), she points to Balvin, a fellow Medellín native who was among the first major contemporary artists to decline to sing in English, even though he speaks it fluently.
“When he was first starting — that was like a whole movement,” she says of her friend and longtime collaborator. “We were all dreamers in [Medellín], trying hard to follow in his footsteps because he was achieving such impressive things. Watching him made us think it was also possible for us.”
Still, she doesn’t deny the impact of the big show. “Being a part of the Latin Grammys nominations is something very important to me, it represents my culture,” she says. “But I’m not going to deny what a great deal it means to be included in the Grammys or [other] international awards. It’s a joy to be included in both – different kinds of joys. No more or less, but different.”
“With every year, [it seems] the Academy has given us that recognition more,” adds Daniel Oviedo, also known as Ovy on the Drums, and the composer behind a majority of Karol’s chart-topping hits. “It’s very gratifying for me not only as a producer but for all of the artists I work with — we make a great effort every year to continue building new rhythms, new music with the hopes of reaching the whole world and growing our country’s [global representation].”
Latin music’s recent rise had a watershed moment of sorts at the Coachella festival in April: Anitta and Colombian superstar Karol G were the leaders of an impressively Latin-heavy festival lineup, with 22 artists on the bill; Balvin had played a galvanizing set on the same stage at the previous festival in 2019. Anitta delivered an eye-popping performance that met with a rapturous response, and as the sun set over the desert, Karol paused during her own set (which featured a surprise appearance from Becky G) to say, “I just want to have a moment to honor the Latina songs that were number one in the world but were never played on this stage, but [gave] me the opportunity [to be] here.” Behind her, a video tribute and a medley of historic Latin hits – from Selena and Celia Cruz to Shakira, Ricky Martin, and Daddy Yankee – played on giant screens behind her, as she sang along with each verse.
And although it feels like a long shot this year, perhaps the day is not far off when Bad Bunny or one of his peers can make an acceptance speech on the big Grammy stage — in Spanish — similar to the one he made just a few weeks ago, after becoming the first non-English-speaking artist to win the VMA for artist of the year. “I believed from the beginning that I could become one of the biggest stars in the world,” he said, “without having to change my culture, my language or my jargon.”
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