Juan Luis Guerra Earns 12th No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Airplay Chart with “Mambo 23”

Juan Luis Guerra has returned to the top of the charts…

The 66-year-old Dominican Grammy-winning musician, singer, composer and record producer is back at the summit of Billboard’s Tropical Airplay chart as “Mambo 23” advances 3-1 to lead the November 25-dated list.

Juan Luis GuerraThe new champ arrives nine years after he last led through “Tus Besos” in 2014, for one week in charge.

“Mambo 23” climbs to No. 1 with a 9% gain in audience impressions, to 4.45 million, earned during the November 10-16 tracking week, according to Luminate. The song, released September 22 via Rimas, is the first single from Guerra’s recently released EP Radio Güira.

With the new champ, Guerra collects his 12th No. 1 on Tropical Airplay and breaks a tie with India for the eighth-most, a score led by Marc Anthony with 35 champs since the ranking began in 1994.

Here’s the scoreboard:

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

Guerra last landed at the summit with “Tus Besos” in 2014. (He notched seven hits between “Tus Besos” and “Mambo 23,” including six top 10s.)

The nine-year span becomes the longest between No. 1s since Don Omar took an equal nine years (and eight months) to dominate Tropical Airplay with the one-week ruler “Dutty Love,” featuring Natti Natasha (April 2012) and “Se Menea,” with Nio García, (Dec. 2021).

“Mambo 23” rules the tropical ranking as it ejects Chayanne’s “Bailando Bachata” from its 14-week domination; along with Manuel Turizo’s “La Bachata,” the third-longest run this decade, both with 14 weeks atop.

The pair trail Prince Royce’s “Carita de Inocente” with 29 weeks at No. 1, the most in the 2020’s decade, and Daddy Yankee and Marc Anthony’s “De Vuelta Pa’ La Vuelta” (22 weeks in charge).

Elsewhere, “Mambo 23” lifts 25-21 on the overall Latin Airplay, Guerra’s highest rank since “Muchachita Linda” reached No. 15 in October 2015.

Bad Bunny: Spotify’s Most-Streamed Artist for Third Consecutive Year

Bad Bunny is (three) ringing in the New Year with a bang…

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican global superstar has generated more than 18.5 billion streams in 2022, landing him the title of Spotify’s top artist for the third year in a row—the first artist ever to claim such an accomplishment.

Bad BunnySpotify celebrated the artist’s success with 1,000 of his biggest fans, collaborators, and supporters in Mexico, the top market to stream his music over the last three years.

Spotify and Rimas (Bad Bunny’s label) joined forces to throw the ultimate after-party at Ragga Club in Mexico City to celebrate the end of his World’s Hottest Tour.

Artists Rauw AlejandropaopaoJowell & RandyCarin LeonDanna PaolaKim LoaizaJuan de Dios PantojaMario BautistaBuscabulla, and Arcángel were among some of the guests toasting Bad Bunny.

The artist even took to the stage in a surprise special performance where he thanked everyone for streaming his music and for celebrating this incredible moment with him. He surprised the crowd with an improvised performance of his hit “Despues de la Playa,” and with acoustic versions of “Neverita,” “Callaita,” and “El Apagon” with the backing of a Dahian El Apechao’s live merengue band.

Bad Bunny, Spotify Three RingsKey to the celebration was the Ring Ceremony, where Jeremy Erlich, Spotify’s Global Head of Music Content, joined Bad Bunny for a celebratory moment on behalf of Spotify.

“Congratulations on the three-peat—the first time any artist is the most streamed for three years in a row,” he shared. “An epic showing for a career-defining year.”

Then, Jeremy presented the artist with three championship-style rings, designed by Jason of Beverly Hills, to symbolize each year he was the top-streamed global artist on Spotify.

Spotify also created five plaques, each representing a Bad Bunny track that has passed the one billion stream mark—“Yonaguni,” “Callaita,” “LA CANCIÓN,” “Te Boté – Remix,” “No Me Conoce – Remix”—and Jeremy presented some of these to him as well.

Bad Bunny’s music hasn’t just made an impact for the artist: It’s also contributed to the growth of reggaeton and trap Latino worldwide. Reggaeton listening grew 147% from 2018-2020, and trap Latino listening grew 187% in the same timeframe. Meanwhile, newcomers are still finding and falling in love with Bad Bunny’s music. Over the past 90 days, 95 million listeners played one of his tracks for the first time, with 51% of those plays occurring outside of Spanish-speaking markets.

What’s more, his fourth studio album, Un Verano Sin Ti, topped the world’s most-streamed album list in 2022, and the rest of his albums continue to have staying power. His first album, X 100PRE, is still ranked in the Top 100 most-streamed albums globally, coming in at slot 68. And out of the six Latin albums in the Top 50 most-streamed albums globally this year, three of them were Bad Bunny’s: Un Verano Sin Ti (#1), YHLQMDLG (#8), and EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO (#21).

Bad Bunny Becomes Co-Owner of Puerto Rico’s Los Cangrejeros de Santurce

Bad Bunny is officially a baller…

Following his impressive WWE activities, which earned him high praise from pro wrestlers, the 27-year-old Puerto Rican Latin trap and reggaeton superstar (real name Benito Antonio Martinez) is continuing his sporting efforts.

Bad Bunny W Magazine Cover

This time, Bad Bunny has become a co-owner of Puerto Rico’s basketball team Los Cangrejeros de Santurce.

The Puerto Rican superstar, alongside RimasJonathan Miranda and Noah Assad, has been named partner of the renewed franchise, which also announced a revamped team and image.

“The main purpose and commitment of this initiative are to help foster positive change on the island,” noted an official statement. “The goal is to promote a better future through sports, music, and the arts. The main objective is to encourage ideas and dreams in Puerto Rican youth, which provoke an authentic and real social transformation.”

Los Cangrejeros de Santurce also unveiled the return of NBA star Jose Juan Barea, who played for the Dallas Mavericks, as the team’s point guard.

Founded in 1918, Los Cangrejeros de Santurce is known as one of the most successful Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN) franchises, winning eight championships.

https://twitter.com/CangrejerosB/status/1394291638638424064

Bad Bunny’s “YHLQMDLG” Headed to Historic Debut on Billboard 200

Bad Bunny is ready to make history…

The 25-year-old Latin trap and reggaeton singer is heading for a historic debut on the Billboard 200 chart with his new album YHLQMDLG.

Bad Bunny

Forecasters believe the set, which was released late in the evening on February 28 via Rimas, could debut at No. 2 on next week’s Billboard 200 chart and earn between 125,000 and 145,000 equivalent album units in the week ending March 5. 

That would mark the biggest week for a Latin album, in units earned, since Billboard began tracking titles by equivalent album units in December 2014.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The top 10 of the March 14-dated Billboard 200 chart (where YHLQMDLGcould debut at No. 2) is scheduled to be revealed via Billboard’s website on Sunday, March 8.

Most of YHLQMDLG’s starting sum will be powered by streaming activity, with perhaps as much as 25,000 generated by album sales. Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG is profiting from merchandise/album bundle offers sold through his official webstore.

Further,YHLQMDLG will likely land the biggest streaming week ever for a Latin album, surpassing the record set by Ozuna’s Aura, which bowed with 53.2 million on-demand audio streams, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data (chart dated Sept. 8, 2018).

Bad Bunny has charted two previous albums on the Billboard 200: Oasis (with J Balvin, No. 9) and X 100PRE (No. 11), both in 2019.