Prince Royce Questions Latin Grammys After Joint Album With Romeo Santos Misses Out
Prince Royce has challenged the Latin Recording Academy over bachata representation after his joint album with Romeo Santos missed the 2026 Latin Grammy nominations.
Nominations for the 27th Annual Latin Grammy Awards were announced on Wednesday, Sept. 16. The collaborative album, ‘Better Late Than Never’, released as a surprise in November 2025, received no nomination, including in Best Merengue/Bachata Album Billboard.
Royce, known for Dominican bachata hits, posted an open letter on his Instagram Stories. Bachata is a guitar-led romantic style from the Dominican Republic, paired in one Academy category with merengue, a faster Dominican dance style.
In the letter, he said none of the five projects nominated for Best Merengue/Bachata Album is a bachata album. He estimated that only about 15% of the music across those nominated projects is bachata.
He wrote that his criticism was not about discrediting merengue. He asked where the representation of bachata was if bachata is in the name of the category, and wrote that when an institution includes the name of a culture and a genre in a category, it assumes the responsibility of knowing, respecting and representing them.
The five nominees in the category are Fariana with ‘Música Para Bailar’, Manerra with ‘Todo Llega’, Gabriel Pagán with ‘No Era El Plan’, Covi Quintana with ‘Oye Eta Vaina’ and Techy with ‘Chula’.
‘Better Late Than Never’ debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Tropical Albums chart and No. 2 on Top Latin Albums, the charts that track tropical and Latin sales and streaming in the United States. Nine songs from the set debuted on Hot Latin Songs, Billboard’s main Latin singles chart.
Royce has received 15 Latin Grammy nominations without a win, including a Best Merengue/Bachata Album nomination at the 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards for ‘Llamada Perdida’. Santos has received four nominations since starting his solo career in 2011, and won the 2023 award for Best Merengue/Bachata Album with ‘Fórmula, Vol. 3’.
Last year’s winner in the category was Eddy Herrera with ‘Novato Apostador’. Latin Recording Academy chief executive Manuel Abud told Billboard that the membership votes and the Academy manages the process, and that he could not explain why particular works were not recognised.
What makes this stand out for followers of the awards is the recent history in the category. Santos won it in 2023 and Royce was shortlisted in it two years ago. The Academy has announced no change to the category rules.
