Ozuna became the most nominated artist in the history of the Latin Billboard awards today, when it was announced that the trapero had gotten a record-setting 23 nods. In eight categories, the singer is competing against himself with double nominations, including a showdown between his 2018 LP Aura and 2017’s Odisea. (Eligibility for the Billboard Awards is based on the year’s chart positions and other metrics of a recording’s success, rather than release date.)
At last year’s Latin Billboards, Ozuna was nominated in seven categories, but only won in one, the ceremony-closing award for Artist of the Year. At the Latin Grammys — a ceremony that has been criticized for ignoring the achievement of reggaeton and other urbano genre artists — in 2018, the trapero’s sole nomination was in Best Urban Album for Odisea, in which he was bested by J. Balvin’s Vibras.
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In fact, Latin trap and reggaeton artists dominate this year’s Latin Billboard nominations, with Balvin and Nicky Jam pulling in 13 nominations each. Bad Bunny was honored with 12 nominations, and Daddy Yankee with eight. Members of this all-male list of top-grossing nominees — minus Nicky Jam — are also competing against each other for 2019’s Artist of the Year award. Urbano artists fill the list for the Songwriter of the Year category, and the team behind the Latin trap world’s super-single “Te Boté” alone is up for six awards.
Real life partners Karol G and Anuel AA, who recently celebrated their coupling in their joint single “Secreto”, will be in competition at this year’s awards — both are up for Best New Artist.
Ozuna’s recent award nomination triumphs are in contrast with the singer’s otherwise turbulent start to 2019, when it was revealed that murdered trapero Kevin Fret had been extorting Ozuna at the time of Fret’s death. Last week, a judge rejected the San Juan district attorney’s request to review Ozuna’s bank records in connection to the case, ruling that there was not enough evidence to link the singer to Fret’s murder.