Cachirula and Loojan are playing this year’s Coachella, following in the footsteps of El Malilla, who appeared at the festival last year, and elite reggaeton artists like J Balvin and Anuel AA are calling to hop on remixes. It all seems like Mexican reggaeton artists like El Bogueto, Yeri Mua, Bellakath, and Sayuri & Sopholov are the future of el movimiento, selling out shows in Mexico with sweaty, screaming fans, racking up serious streaming numbers, and building a strong social media presence. Right?
If we take a closer look, the complete picture is more complex. Specifically, it seems that hits by Regional Mexican artists are largely contributing to the genre’s streaming success. The most notable case is “La Bebé,” the reigning reggaeton mexa hit by Yng Lvcas and Peso Pluma, which boasts 1.3 billion plays on Spotify, with similar hits by Natanael Cano (“Bellakita”) and Netón Vega (“Te Quería Ver”) not far behind. Even the biggest Mexican reggaeton hits languish below 250 million plays—the only songs to challenge corridos and their forays into dembow rhythms are El Bogueto’s “Cuando No Era Cantante” (with more than 550 million plays) and Bellakath and Dani Flow’s “Reggaeton Champagne” (more than 310 million plays).
It raises the question: is reggaeton mexa a local phenomenon blown up by a few viral hits and a passionate grassroots fandom, or is it the beginning of something bigger? According to Daniel Calderon, senior editor of U.S. Latin at Spotify, things are just getting started. “Mexico may not be the traditional stronghold of the genre, but it’s quickly becoming one of the most important, influential territories shaping where it can go next,” he says.
Data seems to support Calderon’s claim that reggaeton mexa is gaining a bigger momentum. According to data provided by Spotify, the genre grew 24.4 percent globally and 18.9 percent in the U.S. year over year. Most notably, it has already outpaced corridos tumbados on the platform, with the latter genre growing only 15.3 percent globally in the same period. It’s worth noting that 69 percent of listeners prefer both genres. However, the platform classifies songs and not artists. In other words, it’s fair to say that artists from the corridos scene carry the heft of reggaeton mexa’s streaming stronghold, even though the two scenes’ origins and histories are significantly different.
The sonic DNA of reggaeton mexa is also quite unique, and perhaps it’s making it a bit more difficult for contemporary reggaeton fans to really get into it. Right now, mainstream producers like Tainy and Ovy on the Drums are crafting lush, polished, live-instrumented productions. Reggaeton mexa leans into the rawer, more minimalist electronics of late ‘90s, early 2000s pioneers like Luny Tunes, Playero, and DJ Nelson, as well as the 2010 neoperreo revival of Tomasa Del Real and Ms. Nina, giving us a more exciting sound that feels unique.
There’s also the language barrier within Spanish itself. As El Malilla noted in a 2024 Rolling Stone piece, reggaeton mexa is largely a Mexico City and State of Mexico phenomenon; some of the slang used might be hard to get into for even people from other regions in the country. But it could also serve as an advantage in the long run. “We are bringing our own sauce to it,” says Calderon, a proud Mexican-American. “The artists are bringing their real culture, and they’re not trying to sound the way other artists sound. They’re really being unique and showcasing their culture, their slang, and their style of music.”
According to the IFPI’s 2026 report, Mexico now ranks as the 10th-largest music market in the world—the highest ranking Spanish-speaking country in the top 10 and the second Latin American market to crack the upper tier alongside Brazil. According to Spotify, música mexicana dominated the first quarter of 2026, becoming the No. 1 Latine genre in the U.S. ahead of reggaeton (it’s worth noting that the streaming platform makes a distinction between reggaeton and Mexican music, regardless of whether there’s a dembow beat present in either). The audience is growing, but will the musical output follow suit? “I think we’re heading towards a balanced way,” says Calderon. “I think we’re closing that gap as more artists come out to make impact.”
While it remains to be seen what will happen in the long run, one can’t help but root for reggaeton mexa to become an important voice in el movimiento. In a genre where everyone wants to project a larger-than-life aspirational persona, there’s something revolutionary about fans relating so much to the artists, feeling like El Malilla or Cachirula and Loojan playing Coachella is also their success. Likewise, a huge contribution reggaeton mexa provides to the culture is a shift in the role of women, by reclaiming their agency to talk about their bodies, desires, and ideologies from their very first singles and videos, setting examples for their followers and representing the next step in el movimiento’s gender roles evolution, something fans are already noticing.
It might just be a matter of time and constant work what will eventually have artists from the actual scene release hits that will match or even surpass the impact and ubiquity of “La Bebé.” Perhaps this is the beginning of reggaeton mexa to establish a new order in el movimiento, and if it does, it will strengthen it for years to come.