Bar one · the fact the rest follows from
Three years the most-streamed artist alive. Never an album in English.
Bad Bunny held Spotify's most-streamed artist position in 2020, 2021 and 2022 — every time without a single English-language album. This piece examines what the Un Verano Sin Ti cycle (2022) did on the charts and what the Spotify year-end data, cited per Spotify's own Loud & Clear reports, says about the scale.
A vocal take is the cheapest part of a record and the one everything else is built around.Photo: Anna Pou / Pexels
Segre Radio covers Spanish-language music now — who is making it, where the forms come from, and how it is counted.
Who has a record out right now
Four of seven. The rest are on the section page.
The First All-Spanish Album by a Woman at Number One
Karol G's Mañana Será Bonito debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in March 2023, per Billboard — the first all-Spanish-language album by a woman to do so. This piece reports the chart run, the RIAA certifications, and what the Bichota Tour stadium legs confirmed about her live reach.
Photo: george charry / Pexels
Motomami Was an Argument, Not Just an Album
Rosalía's Motomami (Sony Music, 2022) positioned flamenco's bulerías rhythm against dembow and batería — a structural argument about where the forms belong.
How Corridos Tumbados Reached the Global Charts
Peso Pluma's Génesis (2023) and his collaborations with Fuerza Regida and Natanael Cano moved corridos tumbados — a Sinaloa-rooted hybrid — from regional Mexican airplay to the Billboard Hot 100.
Young Miko and What Latin Trap Sounds Like in 2024
Young Miko's Atlantic Records debut and her Latin Grammy nomination (Best New Artist, 2023) mark a shift in who Latin trap centres.
Eight beats, and the row is set to the rhythm
Eight forms in the 3–3–2 accent grouping that runs under dembow, son and half the Caribbean: the dembow riddim, the Sinaloa lineage, flamenco’s named forms, bachata, rumba catalana and the Madrid scene.
Dembow
The Riddim That Started in Kingston and Stopped in San Juan
Corridos tumbados
Corridos Tumbados: Where the Sinaloa Lineage Ends Up
Flamenco palos
The Palos, the UNESCO Listing, and What Rosalía Did With Both
Bachata
Bachata Was Not Always Respectable
Rumba catalana
Rumba Catalana Has Always Been Barcelona's Own
Madrid indie
The Madrid Indie Scene and the C. Tangana Problem
Camarón
Camarón and Paco de Lucía Broke Flamenco and Rebuilt It
Fania
Salsa Was Made in New York, Not in the Caribbean
Somebody is counting all of this, and it matters who
How the music is measured — Billboard, Promusicae, AMPROFON, Spotify's Loud & Clear, and the Latin Grammys. None of them agree on what a unit is, and every figure this site reports travels with the name of whoever issued it.
| Body | What it publishes |
|---|---|
| Billboard | Hot Latin Songs Counts Three Things at OnceThe Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart blends streaming, airplay and sales data — the methodology changed materially in 2012 when on-demand streams were added. |
| Promusicae | Promusicae Certifies Spain, and the Numbers Are Not RIAA NumbersPromusicae's gold and platinum thresholds for Spain are set at different stream and sales volumes than RIAA Latin or AMPROFON — a Spanish gold album is not a US gold album. |
| Latin Grammys | The Latin Grammys Moved to Seville, and That Was a StatementThe 24th Latin Grammy Awards were held in Seville in November 2023 — the first time the ceremony left the United States. |
| Spotify | What Loud & Clear Actually PublishesSpotify's annual Loud & Clear report discloses payout tiers — how many artists crossed $1,000, $10,000, $1M in a given year — without naming individuals. |
| RIAA & AMPROFON | Two Certification Bodies, One CatalogueA record released in Mexico and the United States can carry both an AMPROFON certification and an RIAA Latin certification — the thresholds and counting methods differ. |
A catalogue is a rack of objects before it is a number, and each body counts those objects its own way.
Photo: Zeynep M. / Pexels
Seville, November 2023: the first Latin Grammy ceremony held outside the United States.
Photo: Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones, estructura exterior, Sevilla, España, 2015 · Wikimedia CommonsSpain is not Latin America, and both know it
The business of Spanish-language music — labels, rights, touring economics, and the major festivals.
Rimas Built the Biggest Latin Roster Without a Major
Rimas Entertainment — founded in San Juan, home to Bad Bunny and Jhay Cortez — operates as an independent while distributing through major-label infrastructure.
Photo: Altamart / Pexels
What It Costs to Fill a Stadium in Spanish
Bad Bunny's World's Hottest Tour (2022) grossed over $400M according to Pollstar — the highest-grossing tour of that year.
Photo: Jose David Cortes / PexelsIt did not start in 2018
The forms and figures that made the present possible — nueva canción, the Movida, Camarón, salsa in New York, and the late-90s crossover.
- Nueva Canción Before It Became a Category
- The Movida Burned Briefly and Changed Madrid Permanently
- Camarón and Paco de Lucía Broke Flamenco and Rebuilt It
- Salsa Was Made in New York, Not in the Caribbean
- The Late-Nineties Crossover That Set the Template
Before Streaming, in full · the whole archive, twenty-nine pieces
Labels that travel with us.
Scenes and labels whose work shapes this music.
