El Cangri has done it again. This week, Daddy Yankee became the artist with the most No. 1 songs on United States radio in 2019 — making strides for urbano’s radio airplay in the process.
This sort of news is no surprise for the reggaetonero, who breaks American and international chart records with such frequency that it seems he’s following a failsafe recipe at this point. And that recipe may have something to do with collaboration.
“Si Supieras,” the single that sent Daddy Yankee to his leading No. 1 status, also features urbano legends Wisin & Yandel. If the name of their last album is any indicator – 2018’s Big Leagues — then it’s safe to say that Daddy Yankee only has an ear for partnering with urbano’s finest. Which means that, before this week’s peak, he was already holding steady on the Billboard charts with a host of multi-artist tracks. Most recently, “Runaway” with Sebastián Yatra, Natti Natasha and the Jonas Brothers also reached No. 1 on U.S. radio last week, three months after its initial release (and a music video with over 212 million views, to boot.)
Leading up to that, Daddy Yankee also released “China” with Anuel AA, Ozuna, Karol G and J Balvin (collabs on collabs, remember?), “No Lo Trates” with Pitbull and Natti Natasha, and a remix of Ozuna’s “Baila Baila” with J Balvin, Farruko, and Anuel AA, all of which grabbed their own #1 position on the U.S. radio charts over the last few months.
If this dizzying rise of hits a la Daddy Yankee says anything, it’s that reggaeton is only going one way — if not to the Latin Grammy’s, then onto what’s better — to the listeners who keep on listening.