Corridos are making their way back to mainstream pop culture. Whether it’s through purists who are bumping the nostalgic hits or music enthusiasts who are discovering up and coming artists, the genre has exponentially grown in the last five years — especially on streaming services.
According to Spotify data, corridos have seen a 53 percent growth within the last five years. But globally, the increase has been 91 percent, reaching 24 billion streams in 2021 (based on corridos’ share of total streams). Within the Mexican music subgenres category, the Spotify data also showed that corridos made up half of the streams last year, supporting the case that the genre’s popularity is soaring. Naturally, Mexico remained the primary market, growing 28 percent last year, and the U.S. came in second with an increment of 16 percent, based on the corridos share of total streams.
Moreover, the comeback of the corrido is heavily supported by Gen Z listeners. Could this be due to the newer faces in the game, like Natanael Cano and the subgenre he spearheaded, corridos tumbados? Spotify representatives think so – crediting this subgenre that blends the genre’s signature sound with trap and hip-hop elements as part of this resurgence. Based on the same data, the increment of the 18 to 24-year-olds that are listening to this genre in the last two years went from five billion streams in 2019 to 11 billion streams in the last two years, showing an accumulated 116 percent increase. Furthermore, 34.7 million playlists curated by the Gen Z audience include corrido tracks, supporting the generation’s interest.
Historically, the top five artists on the platform are: Calibre 50, Grupo Firme, Gerardo Ortiz, El Fantasma, and Natanael Cano. And for songs specifically, some of the most popular include Adriel Favela & Javier Rosas’ “La Escuela No Me Gusto” and Grupo Firme & Marca MP’s “El Güero (Feat. Marca MP).” In addition to the U.S. and Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are also the Corridos Perrones playlist’s top markets — which makes sense given the popularity of Regional artists in Central America.
Due to this steady growth, Spotify has jumped on this trend by preparing and rebranding their corridos playlist “Corridos Perrones,” where they will now be including some of the newer artists that resonate with Gen Z listeners such as Junior H, and T3R Elemento. Not only that, but they will also provide exclusive content celebrating the most prominent artists of this genre, such as Banda staples Los Tucanes de Tijuana to the newer generation such as Fuerza Regida.
Given this data, it’s no surprise we’re starting to see the addition of Mexican Regional artists on the lineups of major festivals, like Banda MS and Grupo Firme at Coachella. As the genre continues to grow, it’s safe to say we’ll continue to see this trend, as well as more collaborations between Regional artists and more mainstream pop artists emerge. We can’t wait to see it!