List of best-selling Latin music artists

Julio Iglesias was recognized as the best-selling male Latin artist of all time by Guinness World Records in 2013.[1]

Latin music has an ambiguous meaning in the music industry due to differing definitions of the term "Latin".[2][3] For example, the Latin music market in the United States defines Latin music as any release that is mostly sung in Spanish, regardless of genre or artist nationality, by industry organizations including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Billboard.[4][5] International organizations and trade groups such as the Latin Recording Academy include Portuguese-language music in the Latin category.[6][7][8] Billboard categorizes an artist as "Latin" if they perform in Spanish or Portuguese.[9]

Music journalists and musicologists define Latin music as musical styles from Spanish-speaking areas of Latin America and from Spain.[10][11] Music from Brazil is usually included in the genre and music from Portugal is occasionally included.[8][12]

Either definition of "Latin music" may be used for inclusion in this list. For an artist to be considered, at least 60%[a] of their catalog must be in either Spanish and/or Portuguese and must have sold at least 10 million copies. This information cannot be officially listed because no organization has recorded global Latin music sales. Only Latin recordings, which are defined as a record with 51% of its content in Spanish or Portuguese,[b] are counted in the certified units table. Instrumental musicians may also be included if they mainly perform any Latin music genre. For recordings with multiple versions, only Spanish and Portuguese version(s) will be counted towards certified units.

The tables are listed with each artist's reported sales figure(s) and their total independently certified units, and are ranked in descending order by reported sales. If two or more artists have the same reported sales, these are then ranked by certified units. The reported sales figure and the total of certified units for each country in the provided sources include sales of albums, singles, compilation albums, music videos, and downloads of singles and full-length albums. Sales figures, such as those from SoundScan, which are sometimes published by Billboard magazine, have not been included in the certified units column.

  1. ^ "Julio Iglesias receives world record certificat in Beijing". Guinness World Record. 2 April 2013. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  2. ^ Edwards, Bob (13 September 2000). "Profile: Latin Grammys at the Staples Center in Los Angeles". NPR. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015. Defining exactly what Latin music is a slippery business. The US record industry trade group says it's any release with lyrics that are mostly in Spanish and that it's more popular than ever, comprising more than 5 percent of US record sales.
  3. ^ Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa (12 September 2000). "One Little Word, Yet It Means So Much". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 29 December 2013. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  4. ^ Cobo, Leila (6 January 2011). "2010's Latin Music Sales Down 26.8%, Digital Up 28%, Enrique Igelsias Is Top-Selling Artist". Billboard. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  5. ^ Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa (26 December 1999). "The Loud and Quiet Explosions". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  6. ^ Cobo, Leila (4 September 2004). "'The Academy's Big Responsibility Is The Diffusion Of Latin Music'". Billboard. Vol. 116, no. 36. p. 62. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2019. Q: What is LARAS's definition of Latin music? A: Music in Spanish or Portuguese.
  7. ^ Llewellyn, Howell (25 November 1995). "ShowMarket To Focus On Development of Latin Music". Billboard. Vol. 107, no. 47. p. 72. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  8. ^ a b Flores, Juan; Rosaldo, Renato (2007). A Companion to Latina/o Studies. Oxford: Blackwell Pub. p. 50. ISBN 978-0-470-65826-0. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2015. ...but the term "Latin music" continues to be used - by the music industry as well as in common parlance - as a catch-all phrase to describe all Spanish and Portuguese-language popular music...
  9. ^ Cobo, Leila (20 November 2019). "What Rosalia's Best New Artist Grammy Nomination Means to Latin Music". Billboard. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2023. Note: we are considering Rosalía an artist who falls into the 'Latin' category because she performs in Spanish or Portuguese.
  10. ^ Lawrence, Larry; Wright, Tom (26 January 1985). "¡Viva Latino!". Billboard. Vol. 97, no. 4. pp. 53, 62. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2015.
  11. ^ Morales, Ed (2003). The Latin Beat: The Rhythms and Roots of Latin music From Bossa Nova to Salsa and Beyond (1. Da Capo Press ed.). Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-306-81018-3. Retrieved 10 September 2015. Including Spain, there are twenty-two predominately Spanish-speaking countries, and there are many more styles of Latin music.
  12. ^ Arenas, Fernando (2011). Lusophone Africa: Beyond Independence. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-8166-6983-7. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
  13. ^ "LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS CATEGORY DEFINITIONS". Latin Recording Academy. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
  14. ^ Cobo, Leila (6 January 2011). "2010's Latin Music Sales Down 26.8%, Digital Up 28%, Enrique Igelsias Is Top-Selling Artist". Billboard. Archived from the original on 18 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  15. ^ "RIAA 2015 Year-End LATIN Sales & Shipments Data Report | RIAA". RIAA. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  16. ^ "Membership Application" (PDF). Latingrammy.com. Latin Recording Academy. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2015.


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