Ricardo Montaner lands first Latin Airplay No. 1 after nearly 30 years
Ricardo Montaner has his first No. 1 on Billboard's overall Latin Airplay chart, almost 30 years after he first appeared on it.
His single "Para Que Seas Feliz" jumps 3-1 on the chart dated Oct. 3, according to Billboard. Latin Airplay ranks the week's most popular songs by Latin radio airplay in the United States. The winner drew 8.9 million audience impressions — an estimate of the listeners reached on radio — during the Sept. 18-24 tracking week, up 39% from the week before, according to Luminate.
It moves past "Ay San Miguel" by Romeo Santos and Prince Royce, which falls to No. 2 after one week on top of the same chart.
The wait lasted almost three decades. That is the longest road to a first No. 1 in the chart's history.
"Para Que Seas Feliz" is Montaner's 21st entry on Latin Airplay, a run that started with "Soy Tuyo" in 1996. He came close twice before, reaching No. 2 with "El Poder de Tu Amor" in 1999 and "Yo Puedo Hacer" in 2002. For years, that was as high as he had climbed on the combined Latin radio ranking, even as he continued to release music and collect airplay elsewhere.
The history puts the delay in context. Latin Airplay began in 1994, and it is now in its 32nd year. No act had waited longer for a first leader. The previous longest wait belonged to Los Ángeles Azules, who needed 27 years from their 1997 debut to their first No. 1 in July 2024. Montaner has now passed that mark by close to three years.
The same song is performing across Billboard's Latin radio charts. It spends a third week at No. 1 on Latin Pop Airplay, the ranking for Latin pop radio. Montaner reached that summit earlier in September when the song rose 4-1, reclaiming the top spot after a 24-year gap. It has also risen to No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay, which ranks the week's most popular songs by regional Mexican radio airplay audience impressions, as measured by Mediabase and provided by Luminate.
That last chart tells its own story. The Regional Mexican Airplay No. 1 is Montaner's first leader and his first appearance on that chart at all. Billboard reports it was largely powered by a regional Mexican remix of the song with Edén Muñoz, which opened the track to a different set of stations and listeners.
What makes this stand out is the breadth. Montaner had already earned eight career No. 1s across Billboard's charts before this week. Now he adds the main Latin Airplay crown that had eluded him since the 1990s, plus a first-time win in regional Mexican radio in the same run.
