Selena Gomez is No. 1 with a bullet…
The 28-year-old Mexican American singer/actress has debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart with her first Spanish-language album Revelación on the March 27-dated survey.
Her album arrives with 23,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 18, according to MRC Data — marking the biggest week for a Latin album by a woman since 2017.
“I never go into anything expecting a No. 1 so I do not take it for granted,” Gomez tells Billboard. “It’s always a bit nerve racking before releasing any music because as artists we put so much of ourselves out there. For this EP specifically, I was the most nervous I have been in a long time because my heritage means so much to me and I have been talking about doing this for over 10 years. I wanted it to be perfect. I am thrilled to see the response from my fans and also from people who might not have listened to my other music.”
The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most popular Latin albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric 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.
The seven-track Revelación was released March 12 via Interscope/IGA. Of its starting sum of 23,000 equivalent album units, album sales comprise 14,000 and the bulk of the remainder are SEA units (equaling 12.21 million on-demand streams of the set’s songs). Gomez’s debut Latin project boasts the biggest week for a Latin album by a woman in nearly four years, since Shakira’s El Dorado started with 29,000 units in its first week (chart dated June 17, 2017).
“Without a doubt the most challenging aspect was having to do all of the sessions over Zoom,” Gomez adds. “We started recording the EP right before COVID-19 shut everything down. In the beginning there were times I ended up canceling sessions because I found it so uninspiring not to be in the same room with everyone. I eventually was able to get past it and am extremely happy with how the music came together. [Producer] Tainy was very patient with me while I worked through my frustrations.”
Revelación is the first album by a female act at No. 1 on Top Latin Albums since Shakira’s El Dorado spent its fifth and final nonconsecutive week atop the list dated Aug. 5, 2017.
Gomez also notches the highest debut by a female solo act since Jenni Rivera’s Paloma Negra Desde Monterrey likewise debuted atop the list in November 2016. In between Rivera and Gomez, a collaborative set by two women launched at No. 1: Gloria Trevi and Alejandra Guzman’s Versus in July 2017.
As Gomez’s “Baila Conmigo,” with Rauw Alejandro, concurrently takes over the top spot on the new Latin Airplay chart, she becomes the first female act in over a decade to rule both charts simultaneously. The last woman to achieve the feat was Shakira when Sale el Sol and “Loca,” featuring El Cata, ruled both Top Latin Albums and Latin Airplay, respectively in November 2010.
Elsewhere, Gomez places a total of four tracks on Hot Latin Songs, all from Revelación — one of which debuts in the top 20: “Baila Conmigo” with Rauw Alejandro lifts 8-5, “Selfish Love,” with DJ Snake, is at No. 18, “Dámelo To’,” featuring Myke Towers, starts at No. 20, and “De Una Vez,” re-enters at No. 50.
“Releasing ‘De Una Vez’ as the first song was the perfect way to introduce the new music,” Gomez says. “It’s a song I really related to and I think it’s beautiful with a message of hope and healing. I think all of the collaborators bring different elements to the table. With Snake it was great because we have a history together so on a mere comfort level that was nice to have. On ‘Dámelo Tó’ Myke brings this smooth rap and it makes you crave for it to be summer because it has the kind of vibe. When we were recording ‘Baila Conmigo’ I knew we needed a male voice on it and Rauw has the ideal sexy, soulful voice that really complements the song perfectly.”
Revelación concurrently bows at No. 1 on Latin Pop Albums and at No. 22 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart.
Named in honor of her new album of the same name, Shakira will play 14 arena shows across North America, beginning November 2 in Palm Desert, California, and ending December 15 in Detroit, Michigan.
