As the end of the year and turn of the decade looms, music and video streaming services are sharing racked up stats (read: self-promoting at the expense of our competitive nature), and Latin artists (unsurprisingly) take home a big piece of the pie. Specifically, we have YouTube’s number one top viewed video of the decade (“Despacito,” 6+ billion views), and the likes of Bad Bunny and J Balvin rolling out the gold carpet for urbano on platforms like Apple Music, Spotify and Shazam (where Balvin was the most searched). Earlier this week, Vevo revealed their list of their globally most viewed artists of 2019, and it turns out Latinos dominate there as well.
In fact, three out of 10 are Latinx. Maluma, Anuel AA and Karol G come in at number three, seven, and eight respectively. In a now-deleted post, Maluma’s manager, Miguel Lua, highlighted the accomplishment on his instagram account. His caption simply read #FlowMaluma with a smiling emoji wearing sunglasses. It is the perfect combination of petty and proud.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6J5f2QltGl/
The news of Maluma’s dominance on the video streaming platform comes as a cherry-on-top addition to what has been a rather successful year for the Colombian pop star. Earlier this quarter, his album 11:11 was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Latin Album category, he re-entered the soltero sphere, extended his contract with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, and more. The 25-year-old added a trio of laughing emoji faces to Lua’s comment section and outlets like Rapeton were quick to snap and blow it up. As you know, Bryant Myers’ “Gan-Ga” remix featuring Anuel AA includes the line “Nunca flow Maluma, siempre real G.” Maluma reacted to the line ahead of its release, after it circulated the web in a teaser, and asked all the adult men involved to stop talking sh*t.
“El que rie ultimo rie mejor,” one commenter wrote. Another pointed out that this is just one of many lists. Maluma is ahead of Anuel on Vevo, but lags behind the Real Hasta La Muerte trapero on Spotify’s Top Latin Artists, for example.
In other news, Karol G continues to dominate as this year’s most listened to woman in urbano. Just a few weeks ago, her latest and perhaps best song of the year “Tusa,” debuted atop Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, and became the first collaboration between mujeres to do so.
It’s no secret that the validity of some statistics are particularly questionable in an era with a fake views economy, but with Latin artists dominating on several platforms no matter which way you slice it, there are a couple of takeaways here. The first is that videos were and continue to be an important and preferred form of music consumption; thus, should be treated as such. Here’s to hoping for more oddities like the goth romantic visions of Benito and Balvin’s “Cuidao Por Ahí“ and “La Canción,” or eclectic, socio-politically in-tune visuals of Mon Laferte and Guaynaa’s “Plata Ta Tá.” Secondly, as one wise Rapeton commenter said, “No hay que pisotear a los demás para llegar al número uno.”