Enrique Iglesias is switching teams…
The 40-year-old Spanish singer-songwriter has left his longtime home at Universal Music Group and signed with Sony Music, according to Billboard.
His albums will most likely be released by Sony Music Latin in Spanish and RCA Records in English.
Iglesias had a long and positive relationship with Universal, which released his albums in English and Spanish for more than a decade.
But Sony offered major international support and, according to inside sources, one of the biggest contracts offered to any artist in recent years in terms of advances and royalties.
Sex and Love, which was released in 2014 and includes the hit “Bailando,” was Iglesias’ last album under his Universal contract.
Earlier this year, as a free agent, he recorded the single “El Perdon” with Nicky Jam, who is signed to Sony. The track was released by Sony Music U.S. Latin in Spanish, and rose to No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart (supplanting long-running “Bailando”). An English version was released in July as is being worked jointly with RCA.
There is no word of a new album yet.
Iglesias’ first record label was Mexican indie Fonovisa, where he launched his career as a Latin crooner. He then signed to Universal/Interscope and became a crossover star with equal success in both English and Spanish.
All told, Iglesias has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. alone, according to Nielsen, making him one of the biggest acts in the market, in any language. Worldwide, he’s sold over 100 million albums.
His top-selling album is Escape, which has sold over 3.5 million copies in the U.S. alone.
To get a sense of Iglesias’ clout, one also has to look at his streaming numbers. “Bailando,” for example, was recorded in four versions. Two of those videos — in English and Spanish — have over 1 billion views on Vevo.
Neither Sony nor Iglesias’ management had comment.
