List of best-selling Latin albums in the United States
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Since July 1993, ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' has published the best-selling Latin
album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
s in the United States on the
Top Latin Albums Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all ''Billboard'' album charts, the chart is based ...
chart.
Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Music of Spain, Spain and Portuguese music, Portugal) ...
is defined by ''Billboard'' and the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA) as a
music release An art release is the premiere of an artistic production and its presentation and marketing to the public. Film A film release is the authorization by the owner of a completed film to a public exhibition of the film. The exhibition may be in theat ...
with 51 percent or more of its content in the
Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
. On October 17, 2017, ''Billboard'' published a list of the 25 best-selling Latin albums in country since September 1992. , the best-selling Latin album in the United States is '' Dreaming of You'' by
Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...
, her fifth and final studio album, which was posthumously released in 1995. It has sold three million copies since its release. ''Dreaming of You'' became the first predominantly Spanish-language album to top the ''Billboard'' 200 and was the best-selling Latin album of 1995 and 1996. Selena's fourth studio album, ''
Amor Prohibido ''Amor Prohibido'' ( en, italic=yes, Forbidden Love) is the fourth studio album by American singer Selena, released on March 13, 1993, by EMI Latin. Having reached a core fan base, the label aimed to broaden her appeal with the next studio rele ...
'', has sold more than 1,246,000 copies and is the fourth best-selling Latin album in the United States. Sales data is compiled by
Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...
from a sample that includes music stores, music departments at electronics and stores, Internet sales (both physical and digital) and verifiable sales from concert venues in the United States. Nielsen SoundScan has tracked sales of records in the country since March 1991. SoundScan does not include sales from small retailers without electronic
cash register A cash register, sometimes called a till or automated money handling system, is a mechanical or electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. It is usually attached to a drawer for storing cash and other ...
s and nontraditional outlets such as
flea market A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of street market that provides space for vendors to sell previously-owned (second-hand) goods. This type of market is often seasonal. However, in recent years there has been the development of 'formal' ...
s and
drugstore A pharmacy (also called "drugstore" in American English or "community pharmacy" or "chemist" in Commonwealth English, or rarely, apothecary) is a retail shop which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmaci ...
s. Prior to the inception of the Top Latin Albums chart, sales of Latin albums were reported by Latin music retailers and distributors and divided into three subcategories:
Latin Pop Latin pop (in Spanish and in Portuguese: Pop latino) is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. Originating in Spanish-speaking musicians, Latin po ...
, Tropical/Salsa, and
Regional Mexican Regional Mexican is a Latin music radio format encompassing the musical genres from the different parts of rural Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Genres include banda, country en español, Duranguense, grupero, mariachi, New Mexico ...
. Sales certifications for US album sales are presented by the RIAA, who began awarding certifications in 1958. Initially, certifications were based on units shipped to retail outlets: sales of 500,000 are awarded gold, 1,000,000 for platinum and 2,000,000 or more for multi-platinum. On February 1, 2016, the RIAA updated its methodology for certifying albums by including
audio streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...
and track sales equivalent. Beginning in 2000, the RIAA launched the Gold and Platinum Awards (Spanish: ''Los Premios Oro y Platino'') to acknowledge the Latin music market in the United States. , the current thresholds for the Latin certifications are 30,000 sales for gold (''Disco de oro''), 60,000 sales for platinum (''Disco de platino''), and 120,000 sales or more for multi-platinum (''Disco de multi-platino''). The previous thresholds for Latin certifications were 50,000 sales for gold, 100,000 sales for platinum, and 200,000 sales for multi-platinum. The first Latin artist to have two Spanish-language albums certified platinum was Luis Miguel, with ''
Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...
'' and '' Segundo Romance''. The latter album is also the 21st best-selling Latin record in the United States with sales of over 603,000 copies. '' Me Estoy Enamorando'' by
Alejandro Fernández Alejandro Fernández Abarca (; born 24 April 1971) is a Mexican singer. Nicknamed as El Potrillo by the media and his fans, he has sold over 20 million records worldwide, making him one of the most successful Hispanic music artists. He is the ...
and '' Vuelve'' by
Ricky Martin Enrique Martín Morales (born December 24, 1971), known professionally as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and actor. He is known for his musical versatility, with his Ricky Martin albums discography, discography spanning ...
were the best-selling Latin albums of 1998 and 1999, respectively, and were both certified platinum by the RIAA.
Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...
and
Maná Maná () is a Mexican pop rock band. The band is considered one of the best-selling Latin music artists and the most successful Latin American band of all time with over 40 million records sold worldwide. The group's current lineup consists o ...
are the only acts with more than two albums on the list. Shakira's albums ''
Pies Descalzos ''Pies Descalzos'' ( en, Bare Feet, italic=yes) is the third studio album and international debut by Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira, released on 6 October 1995, by Sony Music and Columbia Records. Its music incorporates Latin pop styl ...
'' and ''
Dónde Están los Ladrones? ''Dónde Están los Ladrones?'' ( en, Where Are the Thieves?, italic=yes) is the fourth studio album by Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira, released on 29 September 1998 by Columbia Records and Sony Music Latin. After attaining success in La ...
'' were both certified Platinum while her 2005 album, ''
Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 ''Fijación Oral, Vol. 1'' (English: ''Oral Fixation, Vol. 1'') is the sixth studio album by Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira. It was released on 3 June 2005 by Epic Records. After attaining international success in 2001 with her fifth st ...
'' was certified eleven times ''Disco de platino''. Maná is the act with the most entries on the list, with four albums: '' ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños?'', '' Sueños Líquidos'', ''
MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...
'' and ''
Amar es Combatir ''Amar Es Combatir'' (English: "To Love Is To Fight") is the seventh studio album released by the Mexican Latin pop/Rock en Español band Maná. The album, which was released on August 22, 2006, became the band's first release in four years. ...
''. , the most-certified album is ''Dreaming of You'', which has been awarded ''Disco de platino'' 59 times, representing 3,540,000 units.


Best-selling albums

Positions are as of October 2017; sales, where shown, are from the reference given, which may be at a different date, and cannot be used to infer changes in position.


See also

*
List of best-selling albums in the United States This is a list of the best-selling albums in the United States based on RIAA certification and Nielsen SoundScan sales tracking. The criteria are that the album must have been published (including self-publishing by the artist), and the album mus ...
*
List of best-selling Latin singles in the United States Latin music in the United States is defined by both the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and ''Billboard'' magazine as any release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. Since 2010, ''Billboard'' has tracked the best-s ...


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Best-Selling Albums In The United States American music industry
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
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