Daddy Yankee leads all winners, followed by Luis Fonsi, Justin Bieber & Shakira, while Ozuna wins artist of the year and Maluma takes home social artist of the year.
It was the year of “Despacito” and the year of urban music.
The most-played song of 2017 swept the 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards, winning six trophies: hot Latin song of the year; hot Latin song of the year, vocal event; airplay song of the year; digital song of the year; streaming song of the year; and Latin pop song of the year.
The celebration of “Despacito,” a song that revived global interest in Latin music, was a fitting way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Billboard Latin Music Awards on the Telemundo network, which aired the awards live from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas (the show’s first time in Sin City) on Thursday night.
While “Despacito” was not performed Thursday night (the song had its live debut at the 2017 Billboard Latin Music Awards), its effect was far-reaching. Producers Andrés Torres and Mauricio Rengifo won producer of the year for the song, and Daddy Yankee — one of the track’s co-writers (and featured artists) — was the big winner of the evening with eight awards. In addition to his “Despacito” wins, Yankee took home Latin rhythm artist of the year, solo, and songwriter of the year for “Despacito” as well as several other songs that hit Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including “Hula Hoop” and “La Rompe Corazones” with Ozuna.
He was followed in wins by Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber, both taking home seven awards each. In addition to his “Despacito” trophies, Bieber won crossover artist of the year, while Fonsi, as the lead performer on “Despacito” and the subsequent “Echame la Culpa,” won the Hot Latin Songs artist of the year award.
But it wasn’t just the year of “Despacito”: There was an explosion of Latin tracks that went global this year and Latin artists who were able to reach fans like never before, mostly with urban or urban-leaning tracks. The night’s performances by mostly huge urban superstars included premieres by Ozuna (performing “La Modelo” with Cardi B), Bad Bunny (performing “Amorfoda”), Maluma (“El Prestamo”) and Nicky Jam and J Balvin, who performed “X” for the first time on television.
The coveted artist of the year award, which takes into consideration sales, airplay and streaming, went to Ozuna, who had success in all areas thanks to a succession of singles and his debut album Odisea.
Even pop wins had an urban tinge. Following the “Despacito” blast, superstar Shakira was the biggest winner of the night, with five awards that included Latin pop artist of the year, solo, and Top Latin Albums artist of the year, female. But she also won Hot Latin Songs artist of the year, female for hits that included the decidedly urban-leaning “Chantaje” with Maluma.
In turn, Maluma, a 10-time nominee (including in four categories for “Chantaje”), won social artist of the year, a nod to his extraordinary social media following.
Regional Mexican music, long the driving force of Latin music in this country, got shut out from most main categories by the sheer force of massive urban hits. However, regional Mexican acts still dominated the artist of the year, new category, with Christian Nodal taking the award. Nodal also won regional Mexican artist of the year, solo, and regional Mexican song of the year. Also coming in with three wins was Romeo Santos, who won Top Latin Albums artist of the year, male; tropical album of the year; and tropical artist of the year, solo.
This year’s special lifetime achievement award went to Mexican rock band Maná, who were honored both for their career as one of the most iconic and lasting bands in Latin music and for their philanthropic endeavors, particularly through their Selva Negra environmental foundation. The group performed two of its biggest hits: “En el muelle de San Blas” and “Corazon Espinado.”
In the label categories, Sony Music Latin was the big winner of the evening, taking home 16 of their 20 nominations, including Hot Latin Songs imprint of the year and Top Latin Albums label of the year. Universal Music Latin Entertainment won three out of their 10 nominations including Hot Latin Songs label of the year. On the publishing end, Sony ATV won both publisher of the year (Sony/ATV Latin Music Publishing) and publishing corporation of the year (Sony/ATV Music).
The Billboard Latin Music Awards honor the most popular albums, songs and performers in Latin music, as determined by the actual sales, streaming, radio airplay and social data that informs Billboard’s weekly charts during a one-year period from the rankings dated February 4, 2017 through this year’s January 27 charts. Finalists, and the eventual winners, reflect performance of new recordings on Billboard’s albums and songs charts, including Top Latin Albums, Hot Latin Songs, Latin Airplay, Latin Streaming Songs and Latin Digital Songs, among others.
The Billboard Latin Music Awards are the culmination of the Billboard Latin Music Conference which took place April 23-26 at The Venetian in Las Vegas, with superstars like Maluma, Ozuna, Bad Bunny, Pitbull and Maná.
…
