Romeo Santos and Prince Royce make a splash across Billboard charts with their collaborative album, Better Late Than Never, as set opens at Nos. 1 and 2 on the Top Tropical Albums and Top Latin Albums charts (dated Dec. 13).
Better Late Than Never was announced as a surprise launch on social media just days prior to its Nov. 28 release via I Love Amiguita/Sony Music Latin. It debuts at No. 1 on Top Tropical Albums with 23,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the tracking week ending Dec. 4, according to Luminate.
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Of the 13-track set’s opening total, streaming accounts for 17,000 units, equal to 24.1 million official on-demand audio and video streams of the album’s songs. This secures a debut at No. 41 on the Top Streaming Albums chart, marking the first appearance for both Santos and Royce. Meanwhile, 7,000 units stem from album sales, enough for a No. 38 debut on Top Album Sales.
Better Late Than Never marks the seventh No. 1 for both artists, tying them with Juan Luis Guerra for the fifth-most chart-topping albums among all acts on Top Tropical Albums. They trail Gilberto Santa Rosa and Victor Manuelle who both lead with 12 No. 1s, El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico with 10 hits, and Marc Anthony with nine.
Santos’ previous effort, Formula. Vol. 3, dominated for 16 weeks between 2022-23. As for Royce, the new release arrives just six months after his album Eterno secured a No. 3 high in May.
In addition to its No. 1 arrival on Top Tropical Albums, Better Late Than Never also starts at No. 2 on the overall Top Latin Abums chart and at No. 32 on the all-genre Billboard 200, their seventh career entry each on the latter.
A Weekly Record on Hot Latin Songs: Better Late Than Never ushers in nine total appearances for the album’s tracks on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, a weekly debut record for both artists among tropical acts. Additionally, Royce lands another entry with “I Want It That Way” at No. 30. Among the new debuts, “Dardos” leads with a No. 8 start with 3.3 million official on-demand streams earned during the tracking period. This new top 10 becomes Royce’s highest entry since his collaboration on “Sensualidad,” with DJ Luian & Mambo Kingz, Bad Bunny and J Balvin (2017). Santos achieves his 23rd top 10, tying with Gloria Estefan for the third-most among tropical acts, trailing only Marc Anthony’s 27 top 10s.
Here is the full rundown of Better Late Than Never songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart:
No. 8, “Dardos”
No. 12, “Lokita Por Mí”
No. 13, “Estocolmo”
No. 14, “Better Late Than Never”
No. 28, “Jezabel”
No. 29, “Ay! San Miguel”
No. 36, “Celeste”
No. 40, “La Última Bachata”
No. 41, “Encerrados”
All charts (dated Dec. 13, 2025) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow, Dec. 9. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram. Plus, for all chart rules and explanations, click here.
