The Billboard Hot Latin Songs (formerly Hot Latin Tracks and Hot Latin 50) is a record chart in the United States for Latin songs, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Since October 2012, chart rankings are based on digital sales, radio airplay, and online streaming, and only predominantly Spanish-language songs are allowed to rank. The chart was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986, and was originally based on airplay on Latin music radio stations. Although the chart predominantly allows Spanish-language songs, songs in English and Portuguese have charted.
The first number one song of the Hot Latin Songs chart was "La Guirnalda" by Rocío Dúrcal on September 6, 1986. As of the issue dated October 24, 2026, the chart has had 470 different number one hits, while 194 artists have reached number one (as a lead or a featured act). The current number-one song on the chart is "Bby Wow" by Karol G with Judeline and Rusowsky.
History
On September 6, 1986, Billboard premiered a Latin music singles chart, the Hot Latin 50. During the late 1980s, musical data was compiled by the Billboard magazine-affiliated chart and research department, with information from 70 Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Those radio stations were selected based on their number of listeners, being asked to report their playlists for the week. Since 1994, this data has been compiled by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), which electronically monitors radio stations in more than 120 music markets across the United States. Before The Hot Latin Songs chart's inception, the Latin music information on the magazine was presented only in the form of the biweekly album sales chart, or Top Latin Albums, which continues to be listed separately. There were no language restrictions on the chart, since a few songs in English and Portuguese have charted (and even reached number one) on five occasions. Three genre-specific Latin "sub-charts" were introduced and were factored into the Hot Latin Songs chart, namely Latin Pop Airplay, Regional Mexican Airplay, and Latin Tropical Airplay. A fourth sub-chart, the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart, was established in 2005 in response to the growing popularity of Latin hip hop, urbano and reggaetón music.
According to the Billboard electronic database, the first number one song on the Hot Latin 50 was "La Guirnalda", by Spanish singer Rocío Dúrcal, on September 6, 1986. However, in the listings included in the first printed publication of the chart, on October 4, 1986, the first number-one song was "Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó", by Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel. In 2016, Billboard stated that the chart was introduced on the issue dated October 4, 1986, but the magazine's official website recognizes the previous issues from September 6, 1986, to September September 27, 1986, as well as Rocío Durcal's number one on the debut issue.
Due to the increasing popularity of downloads sales and streaming data, Billboard updated the methodology for the Hot Latin Songs chart on October 11, 2012, to include digital sales and streaming activity in addition to airplay, as well as making only predominantly Spanish-language songs eligible for inclusion and increasing airplay data to more than 1,200 radio stations across the United States. The chart's previous methodology was formatted to the Latin Airplay chart with the Latin genre-charts now being component charts of the Latin Airplay chart.
Component charts
There are several component charts that contribute to the overall calculation of Hot Latin Songs. These are:
Latin Digital Song Sales: The chart measures the best-selling Spanish-language digital songs. It was established on January 23, 2010. "Loba" by Shakira was the first number-one song on the chart. "Danza Kuduro" by Don Omar featuring Lucenzo is the longest-running number-one, with 94 non-consecutive weeks from May 14, 2011, to July 20, 2013.
Latin Streaming Songs: The chart measures the most-streamed Spanish-language songs and videos on selected online music services. It was established on April 20, 2013. "Hips Don't Lie" by Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean was the first number-one song on the chart. "Bailando" by Enrique Iglesias featuring Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona is the longest-leading number-one, with 66 non-consecutive weeks from May 17, 2014, to April 30, 2016.
Four subgenre charts: Hot Latin Pop Songs, Hot Regional Mexican Songs, Hot Latin Rhythm Songs, and Hot Tropical Songs, which rank the best-performing songs (combining airplay, sales and streaming) on their respective genre charts. They were established on April 8, 2025.
Compilation
The tracking week for sales and streaming begins on Friday and ends on Thursday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Monday to Sunday. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesday. Each chart is post-dated with the "week-ending" issue date four days after the charts are refreshed online (i.e., the following Saturday). For example:
Friday, January 1 – sales tracking-week begins, streaming tracking-week begins
Monday, January 4 – airplay tracking-week begins
Thursday, January 7 – sales tracking-week ends, streaming tracking-week ends
Sunday, January 10 – airplay tracking-week ends
Tuesday, January 12 – new chart released, with issue post-dated Saturday, January 16
Hot Latin Songs policy changes
The methods and policies by which this data is obtained and compiled have changed many times throughout the chart's history.
Digital downloads, linguistic requirement, and online streaming
Since October 11, 2012, the Billboard Hot Latin Songs tracks paid digital downloads and streaming activity. Billboard initially started tracking downloads since January 10, 2010, with the Latin Digital Songs chart. However, these downloads did not count towards Hot Latin Songs. In addition, Billboard imposed a linguistic requirement; a song must be predominantly sung in Spanish to be eligible to rank on the chart. A component Latin Streaming Songs chart was introduced on April 20, 2013, which ranks web radio streams from services such as Spotify, as well as on-demand audio titles.
Recurrents
Billboard, in an effort to allow the chart to remain as current as possible and to give proper representation to new and developing artists and tracks, has removed titles that have reached certain criteria regarding its current rank and number of weeks on the chart. A song is permanently moved to "recurrent status" if it had spent 20 weeks on Hot Latin Songs and fallen below position number 25. Additionally, descending songs were removed from the chart if ranking below number 10 after 26 weeks or below number five after 52 weeks. As of the chart dated October 25, 2025, descending songs are also removed from Hot Latin Songs after 78 weeks if falling below No. 3.
In 2016, for the 30th anniversary of Hot Latin Songs, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 50 best-performing songs on the chart over the 30 years, along with the best-performing artists. Billboard has stated that "due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods." The top 20 was updated in 2018. It was also updated in September 2021. The latest update was published in October 2026.
In 2016, for the 30th anniversary of Hot Latin Songs, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 50 best-performing artists on the chart over the 30 years, along with the best-performing artists. Billboard has stated that "due to changes in chart methodology over the years, eras are weighted differently to account for chart turnover rates over various periods." The top was updated in 2018. It was also updated in September 2021. The latest update was published in October 2026.
↑The original version of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee remained at number one for 12 weeks before the remix version featuring Justin Bieber was combined to the chart entry on May 6, 2017.
References
↑"Hot Latin Songs". Billboard. October 24, 2026. Retrieved October 21, 2026.
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