Mexican singer-songwriter Natanael Cano continues to take his unique brand of corridos tumbados to new heights. According to Billboard, Cano is the third most-consumed Latin artist of 2020 in the United States, just behind Puerto Rican acts Bad Bunny and Ozuna.
Billboard released Nielsen’s midyear report for 2020, which essentially named Bad Bunny as the most popular Latin music artist of 2020 in the U.S. In terms of music consumption for the first six months of 2020, his compatriot Ozuna comes in second, and his “Soy El Diablo” collaborator Cano comes in third. The 19-year-old Cano edges out Colombian reggaetonero J Balvin, who dropped the high-profile Colores album this year.
It’s no surprise that Bad Bunny is the most-consumed Latin artist of 2020. When his second solo albumYHLQMDLG dropped in February, it reached No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart, breaking the record for the highest-charting fully Spanish album. Among all genres, it’s the sixth most-consumed album of 2020 and the sole Latin album in the top 10. Bad Bunny’s perreo de résistance “Yo Perreo Sola” (with Nesi) was the second most consumed Latin song of the year, behind Colombian reggaetonera Karol G’s “Tusa” with Nicki Minaj.
Ozuna dropped his highly-anticipated Nibiru album last November with features from artists like Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Swae Lee, and fellow reggaetoneros Anuel AA, Sech, and Nicky Jam. Cano released a number of EPs since breaking through as the leader last year of the corridos tumbados movement. Last month, Cano branched out from trap corridos to Latin trap with his Trap Tumbado album, a release from his longtime label Rancho Humilde and new ally Republic Records.
Even with people in quarantine since the Coronavirus pandemic hit in early 2020, Latin music consumption was up to 14.56 million units in the first six months of the year; that’s a 15.9% increase from last year’s midyear report where Latin music was at 12.6 million units. Among all genres, Latin music’s share of the U.S. market also went up this year, from 3.86% at this point last year to 4.09% now.