Latin Music Accounts for the Top Two Spots on the Billboard 200 for the First Time: Here’s When Other Genres Accomplished This Feat
From rock and roll to hip-hop; from country to K-pop, here are all the details.
Latin music has been building commercial momentum in the U.S. over the course of the past decade, and this week it achieves a historic milestone on the Billboard 200. As Billboard reported on Sunday (May 11), the current chart (dated May 17) marks the first time that the top two spots are both held by Spanish-language albums.
Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos returns to the top spot for a fourth nonconsecutive week, jumping from No. 7 to No. 1 following its vinyl release, while Fuerza Regida achieves its highest-charting album ever, as the band’s new 111XPANTIA debuts at No. 2. Fuerza Regida also lays claim to the highest-charting Spanish-language album by a duo or group, or a regional Mexican music album, ever.
Debí Tirar Más Fotos is Bunny’s fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, but only his second to spend multiple weeks in the top spot. Un Verano Sin Ti topped the chart for 13 weeks in 2022. His other No. 1 albums, which each ruled for a single week, are El Último Tour Del Mundo (2020) and Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana (2023).
This is Fuerza Regida’s first album to crack the top 10. The group’s previous highest-charting album, Pa Las Baby’s y Belikeada, peaked at No. 14 in 2023. That album is currently in its 81st week on the chart.
This historic week for Latin music made us wonder: When did 10 other genres and recording configurations first occupy the top two albums on the Billboard 200 in the same week? (The chart originated as a regular weekly feature on March 24, 1956.) Read on to see our findings — with albums being defined as belonging to a genre if they also charted on that genre’s corresponding albums chart.
