Carlos Rivera Takes Top Honours at the 2026 Heat Latin Music Awards

Carlos Rivera won Best Male Artist and Album of the Year at the 2026 Heat Latin Music Awards, held on Thursday, 5 November. Billboard published the full winners list on 6 November. Rivera's album ¡Vida México! took the Album of the Year prize, and he shared the Best Music Video award for "Sin Despedida" with Alejandro Fernández.

The evening also gave Karol G the Best Female Artist prize. She had led the nominations when they were announced in September, according to Billboard's nominations list. Bad Bunny and Feid were among the nominees for Best Male Artist, and Shakira was nominated for Best Female Artist.

Other winners spanned a wide range of styles. Grupo Firme took Regional Mexican Artist, while Maná won Best Rock Artist. Ha*Ash won two categories, Best Group or Band and Best Pop Artist. Arcángel took Best Urban Artist, Grupo 5 won Best Tropical Artist, and Brunella Torpoco was named Best Salsa Artist. Ovy on the Drums was named Producer of the Year.

Regional awards went to Cazzu for Best Southern Region Artist and Dayanara for Best Andean Region Artist. Gloria Trevi, Olga Tañón, La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho, Los Angeles Azules and Piso 21 each received a special award.

This year's ceremony was the first held in Mexico. Premios Heat, as the awards are also known, had previously taken place in the Dominican Republic and Colombia. The Mexico edition was organised with the government of Jalisco and the municipality of Puerto Vallarta.

For anyone new to the awards, the winners are chosen from a published list of nominees in each category, and the prizes are announced on the night. Winning an award doesn't change how many people stream a song, but it does put the artist's name in front of a wider audience on the day the results are published.