An unprecedented avalanche of Latin songs was released in the first six months of 2023, underscoring the music’s booming popularity at a global scale, the speed of which is outpacing every other genre. While the year kicked off with Bad Bunny still entrenched as Latin music’s top hitmaker, things quickly evolved to bring other genres into the fray — most notably Mexican music, which is currently the dominating Latin presence on the Hot 100 and which even fused with Bad Bunny in the Grupo Frontera/Bad Bunny hit “un X100to.”
The result is an eclectic mix of 23 songs that span a wide array of genres. Música urbana continues to beat, but so does tropical, Mexican and, refreshingly, an increasing dose of pop and singer/songwriter driven fare. The versatility underscores and increasingly vast and eclectic Latin music fan base that is ready and willing to consume all styles of music. Predictably, several of the songs on the list fall under the regional Mexican, or música mexicana label, whose vast umbrella covers from corridos to romantic cumbias on this list.
By the same token, there are songs from icons like Juanes and Marc Anthony, who embrace their roots in rock and salsa, respectively. But there are also a slew of newcomers like Young Mike and María Becerra, who have demonstrated time and again that they are willing to push boundaries in their search for distinctive sounds. Although chart position was a consideration, our choices were guided by many factors, most importantly, memorable lyrics and standout melodies.
Enjoy!
From Bad Bunny’s “Where She Goes” to Yahritza y Su Esencia and Grupo Frontera’s first collaborative effort in “Frágil,” see the list in alphabetical order by artist name, below.
