Gabito Ballesteros Earns First No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay Chart with Prince Royce-Collab “Cosas de la Peda”

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Gabito Ballesteros is celebrating a Billboard first…

The 24-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter and record producer’s collaboration with Prince Royce, “Cosas De La Peda” rises to the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart as their first partnership advances from the runner-up slot to lead the February 24-dated list.

That translates into a 24th No. 1 for Prince Royce, while Ballesteros scores his first champ on first try.

“Cosas De La Peda,” Mexican slang for “drunken times,” lifts 2-1 on the tropical radio ranking with by a 37% gain in audience impressions, to 6.2 million earned in the U.S. during the February 9-15 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The track trades places with Marc Anthony’s “Punta Cana” which drops 1-2 with an 11% dip in impressions, to 5.2 million.

Prior to its release, “Cosas De La Peda” received its fair share of promotion. The Bronx-born singer premiered the song live for the first time, with Ballesteros, during Calibash festival at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles on January 12. Plus, a performance on ABC’s Good Morning America followed on January 17.

With “Peda,” Royce collects his 24th No. 1 on Tropical Airplay, continuing with the third-most leaders since the chart’s inception in 1994. Only two soloists stand ahead him: Marc Anthony with 36 No. 1s and Victor Manuelle with 29. Here’s an updated look at the artists with the most No. 1 hits on the almost three-decade-old ranking:

36, Marc Anthony
29, Victor Manuelle
24, Prince Royce
18, Romeo Santos
14, Elvis Crespo
14, Gilberto Santa Rosa
13, Jerry Rivera
12, Juan Luis Guerra 440
11, India

Ballesteros, who seasoned “Peda” with his corridos tumbados flair, lands a first No. 1 on the Tropical Airplay —and on any airplay ranking— thanks to the bachata tumbada. The Mexican producer first landed a No. 1 on a Billboard chart as a producer of the two-week champ “Lady Gaga,” with Peso Pluma and Junior H (last September).

Elsewhere, “Cosas De La Peda” flies 26-11 on the overall Latin Airplay tally. It bests Ballesteros’ previous No. 37 entry with “La Pelinegra,” with La Adictiva, last October.

“Cosas De La Peda” is one of 23 songs from Royce’s latest seventh full-length album, Llamada Perdida, released February 16 through Sony Music Latin; it has not entered any Billboard charts yet. The song was produced by Edgar Barrera and Luis Miguel Gómez Castaño, better known as Casta.

Junior H to Make Special Appearance at Rolling Loud California Next March

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Junior H is rolling along…

The 23-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter has been added to the lineup for the sixth installment of Rolling Loud in California.

Rolling Loud California 2024 will take over Hollywood Park Grounds in Inglewood, California, from March 15 to 17, 2024.

Junior H, a Billboard chart-topping regional Mexican artist, will serve as Friday’s special guest.

But he’s not the only Latinx artist set to appear.

Regional Mexican band Fuerza Regida will act as Saturday’s special guest, while award-winning corridos tumbados trailblazer Natanael Cano will serve as Sunday’s special guest.

Led by superstars Nicki Minaj, Lil Uzi Vert and Post Malone, the sprawling list of performers features more than 90 of the biggest and buzziest names across rap, R&B, pop and Latin music.

Presale for Rolling Loud California 2024 begins Thursday, November 16, at 10:00 am PT, and general onsale begins the following day on Friday, November 17, at 10:00 am PT.

Fans can click here to RSVP for first access to tickets — and a chance to win free tickets before they go on sale — right now.

RL CALIFORNIA 2024

PRESALE THU, 11/16 @ 10AM PT

ON SALE FRI, 11/17 @ 10AM PT

RSVP for first access to tickets + a chance to win free tickets before they go on sale.

👉 https://t.co/PsLzA2nUuz pic.twitter.com/A0W2FNpUXl

— Rolling Loud (@RollingLoud) November 14, 2023

Grupo Frontera to Perform in Mexico City’s Zócalo During This Year’s Grito de Independencia

Posted on August 25, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Grupo Frontera will be making a special visit to Mexico’s most iconic plaza…

The Regional Mexican group will perform at Mexico City’s Zócalo — the country’s most important public square — on September 15 for the annual Grito de Independencia event, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced.

“The members of Grupo Frontera will be there on September 15 at night in the Zócalo,” said the Mexican president at the end of his usual morning conference, where he played Frontera’s cover of “No Se Va,” originally by Colombian group Morat.

López Obrador reiterated his taste for the music of the Regional Mexican group, which he has included in his playlist to challenge corridos tumbados, a musical genre that although he has said he will not prohibit, he considers to glorify drug traffickers.

Grupo Frontera joins a long list of national and international artists who have set foot in the second-largest public square in the world, only behind Tiananmen in Beijing. Musicians such as Paul McCartney, Justin Bieber, Manu Chao, Shakira, Café Tacvba and the late icon of regional Mexican music Vicente Fernández, among many others, have performed at the Zócalo.

The attendance record for free concerts held in the so-called Primer Cuadro in the Mexican capital is held by the Argentine rock band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, which achieved the milestone of gathering 300,000 people on the night of June 3, beating Grupo Firme, who held the record after summoning 280,000 people in September 2022, according to figures from the government of Mexico City.

This week, the sextet scored their first top 10 hit on a Billboard album chart with El Comienzo, which jumped 39-4 on the Top Latin Albums chart on August 19 after its first full week of activity.

El Comienzo also jumped 12-2 on Regional Mexican Albums and debuted at No. 39 on the Billboard 200 all-genre chart.

Natanael Cano Agrees to Worldwide Publishing Deal with Warner Chappell Music

Posted on May 11, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Natanael Cano is going to the Chappell…

The 21-year-old Mexican rapper and singer-songwriter has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, according to Billboard.

Cano’s signature corridos tumbados first put him on the map with his 2019 anthem “Soy El Diablo,” while a Bad Bunny-assisted remix scored him his first entry on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart. Since, he’s released multiple corridos tumbados albums including A Mis 20 and Corridos Tumbados which topped the Regional Mexican Albums chart.

“I’m excited to join forces with Gustavo [Menéndez] and the Warner Chappell team to share my music on a global scale,” Cano said in a statement. “With our shared vision, I know we’ll accomplish great things together.”

“Nata is a unique talent, who at such a young age, has already secured his legacy in the industry. He has an incredible delivery with an uncanny penmanship as a songwriter, no matter the genre,” added Gustavo Menéndez, WCM’s president, U.S. Latin & Latin America. “I’ve also had the opportunity to spend time with Nata outside of the studio and he’s an incredible and inspiring human being. We are proud that he’s entrusted us to be his publisher and continue to help pave the way.”

The signing with Warner Chappell Music comes on the heels of his debut at Coachella last month and his new partnership with WME. The company signed him for representation in all areas — marking Cano’s first-ever agency agreement. WME will build the singer’s business across touring, acting, fashion and talent ventures.

Most recently, Cano released his half trap and half corridos studio album NataKong, where he reflects on his maturity and growth as an artist.

The set, which was released on April 8 less than a year after A Mis 20, coincided with the launch of his own record label Los CT. Moving forward, Cano will release music under Warner Music Latina, Rancho Humilde and his label Los CT.

Natanael Cano Signs with William Morris Endeavor (WME)

Posted on April 19, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Natanael Cano has major representation…

William Morris Endeavor (WME) has signed the 21-year-old Mexican rapper and singer-songwriter for representation in all areas.

Marking Cano’s first-ever agency agreement, WME will build the singer’s business across touring, acting, fashion and talent ventures.

Cano’s signature corridos tumbados first got on the radar with his 2019 single “Soy El Diablo,” while a Bad Bunny-assisted remix earned him his first entry on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart.

Cano released his half trap and half corridos studio album NataKong, where he reflects on his maturity and growth as an artist, earlier this month.

“This album is the separation of the 17-year-old Nata who was just starting. It mirrors who I am now,” Cano told Billboard. “I can no longer pretend I’m a kid because I never really got the opportunity to be a kid so, in reality, I was faking it. I don’t want to seem dumb or get into problems. I want to keep doing music because I love it.”

Cano’s WME signing comes on the heels of his debut at the 2022 Coachella festival on Sunday (April 17), where he performed in front of a full house at the Gobi stage.

Sticking strictly to his core corridos tumbados sound, Cano sang “Soy El Diablo,” “Sin Ti,” “El de la Codeína” and his chart-topping hit “Amor Tumbado” as fans waved Mexican flags. At one point, he wore a flag as a cape.

Cano returns to Coachella next weekend.

Natanael Cano Knocks Himself Out of Top Spot on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums Chart with “A Mis 20”

Posted on June 9, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

It’s a knock out for Natanael Cano… against himself.

The 20-year-old Mexican singer-songwriter has knocked himself out of the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Albums chart as A Mis 20 debuts at No. 1, replacing Corridos Tumbados on the June 12-dated ranking.

The latter spent 31 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 since it bowed atop the list dated November 16, 2019.

Cano’s sixth studio album debuts with 5,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 3, according to MRC Data, mostly stemming from streaming activity. It registered 6.9 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks in its first tracking week.

The Regional Mexican Albums chart ranks the most popular regional Mexican albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units.

Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Mon Laferte Releases New Regional Mexican Album “Seis”

Posted on April 10, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Mon Laferte is changing things up for her next album…

The 37-year-old Chilean singer and songwriter wrote her sixth album, Seis, while hunkered down in the pueblo mágico Tepoztlán, nearly two hours south of Mexico City.

Mon Laferte started writing it a month after the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed.

“I was like everyone else, just filled with uncertainty,” she tells Billboard. “So I clung onto my music and my guitar because I thought, if the world ends, I at least want people to know how I was feeling.”

It’s the first album in which she sings regional Mexican (banda, corridos tumbados, mariachi) music in homage to the country she’s live in for the past 14 years. In it, she doesn’t hold back while singing about toxic relationships, past and future loves, and the love she has for her mother and other women.

“The entire writing process was very solitary, bleak and melancholic … it was nights of just me and my guitar, drinking mezcal, with the crickets in the background,” she adds.

Ozuna Teams Up with Ovi for Hard-Hitting Trap/Reggaeton Single “Envidioso”

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Ozuna has a message for the haters…

The 29-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer has joined voices with up-and-coming Cuban corridos tumbados artist Ovi for the hard-hitting trap/reggaeton track titled “Envidioso.”

The song, which marks their first-ever collaboration, finds the pair singing about working hard to get to where they are now. But climbing the ladder comes with envidiosos.

“The jealous one wants to see me do bad … they’re upset because I was able to progress,” they rap.

About the collaboration, Ozuna told Apple Music, “Ovi is a good guy, he’s a humble guy. He told me he wanted to do something with me and I thought if this can help his career go up, why not?”

Bad Bunny Leads Billboard’s Top Latin Artists Chart for Second Straight Year

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Make that two in a row for Bad Bunny…

Billboard has released its 2020 year-end Top Latin Artists chart, with the 26-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton singer-songwriter coming in at No. 1 for the second consecutive year.

Bad Bunny also ranks as the Top Male Artist.

Bad Bunny notched a field-dominating 41 charting songs on the airplay-, streaming- and digital sales-blended Hot Latin Songs chart during the tracking year (five of them spent time at No. 1, seeding a booming closing year for the artist whose full name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio). Plus, on the Top Latin Albums chart, he spent 45 weeks at No. 1 during the chart year with three different No. 1 albums.

J Balvin is the runner-up on the year-end Top Latin Artists chart, Ozuna comes in third place, while Anuel AA, Sech and Maluma are Nos. 4-6, respectively. The male reggaetón brigade in the top 10 is closed by Myke Towers at No. 10.

Karol G leads the female flock closing as the Top Female Artist for a second year in a row (and the only woman in the year-end top 10).

The 29-year-old Colombian singer and songwriter comes in as the No. 8 artist; she was No. 9 in 2019. (Shakira was the lone woman in the top 10 in 2018 and 2017.)

Karol G was the only female act who mostly records in Spanish to reach No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart during the 2020 chart year. She topped the list with “Tusa,” a collaboration with hip-hop superstar Nicki Minaj, which led the list for four weeks.

Newcomer Natanael Cano earns the No. 7 spot on the Top Latin Artists chart (he’s also the Top New Artist).

The 19-year-old Mexican musician’s year-end finish was aided by his seven charting hits on the Hot Latin Songs chart during the chart year, along with his album Corridos Tumbados spending half of the year locked in the weekly top 10 of the Top Latin Albums chart, placing him as one of the trailblazers of the corridos tumbados squad.

Eslabon Armado is the Top Duo/Group.

The Mexican group’s debut album Tu Veneno Mortal arrived in the top 10 on the weekly Top Latin Albums chart dated May 16 (peaking at No. 7 in July), and then, just a few months later, the teenage trio’s second album, Vibras de Noche, bowed at No. 1 (Aug. 1). It was the second title by a regional Mexican act to open at No. 1 in 2020, and earned the year’s biggest week — at that point — for a regional Mexican album in terms of equivalent album units. The Pedro Tovar-led ensemble leads the year-end Top Latin Artists – Duo/Group ranking.

Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated November 23, 2019, through November 14, 2020. The rankings for Nielsen Music/MRC Data-based year-end recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

Ivonne Galaz Releases Tribute Song to Murdered U.S. Army Soldier Vanessa Guillén

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Ivonne Galaz is raising her voice to honor murdered U.S. army soldier Vanessa Guillén.

The Mexican singer, one of the young female singers leading the emerging corridos tumbados movement, revisits Guillén’s tragic fate in a tribute song she’s uploaded to her Instagram account.

“JusticeForVanessaGuillen with much respect to Vanessa’s family,” wrote Galaz, who titled the track “Vanessa Guillén.”

After Guillén’s disappearance made national headlines, the lawyer for her family confirmed on Sunday that the U.S. Armypositively identified the soldier’s remains near the Leon River in Texas last week.

Guillén, 20, a soldier in Fort Hood, was declared missing by her family since April, but the search for her only intensified last month when the family went public with appeals to find her.

Galaz, the first female signee on corridos tumbados label Rancho Humilde, uploaded the song to Instagram on Sunday night. Corridos tumbados (sometimes referred to as trap corridos) are a new take on the traditional Mexican song from the perspective of the youth in the streets of the U.S.

Backed by an acoustic guitar, Galáz sympathizes with Guillén’s family in her heartbreaking corrido. “Her suffering family asking, ‘Where is the girl?'” she sings in Spanish. Galáz sadly notes Guillén’s “light has been put out” while highlighting her heritage in the haunting final line: “The Mexican people, we will be there so that her case is not forgotten.”

Many Latino artists, including Becky G, Chiquis, Salma Hayek and Intocable, have posted about Guillen in social media, demanding answers from authorities at her base.

The main suspect in Guillén’s murder, Spc. Aaron David Robinson, who was stationed with the her at Fort Hood, killed himself last Wednesday as investigators were closing in. Robinson’s reported girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, says Robinson murdered Guillén and that she tried to help him dispose of her body. Aguilar was charged with one count of conspiracy to tamper with evidence.

Galáz hails from Senora, Mexico, the same state as her labelmate Natanael Cano. She made her debut last year as a featured artist on Cano’s “Golpes de La Vida” from his Mi Nuevo Yo EP. On Rancho Humilde’s recent Corridos Tumbados Vol. 2 album, Galáz recorded with Cano again and also teamed up with Natalie Lopéz on the girl-powered “La Rueda.” A solo project from Galaz is due out soon.

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