Latin Mega-Hits
by Sheldon Rocha Leal

I’ve been reflecting on the current immense success of the Luis Fonsi (featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber) single Despacito. It reminds me of a whole load of Latin songs that have dominated the world of music. It almost feels like every few years, there seems to be a major Latin song that experiences worldwide success and recognition. There has been at least one big Latin hit, every decade since the beginning of the Rock era in the 1950s.
Mostly the artists that perform the songs experience this worldwide recognition and then vanish from mainstream music forever. Some other artists experience longer term success.
In this article I decided that I would highlight 14 of the biggest Latin Hits of all time:
1. Domenico Modugno: Nel Blu, Dipinto, Di Blu (Volaré) (1958) (22million) 🇮🇹
Domenico Modugno was born in Italy in 1928. The song was entered as the Italian contribution to the Eurovision contest in 1958 and came third. The song is better known as Volare. It peaked at No1 in the USA in 1958. It has been covered by many artists and has sold a combined 22million units worldwide making it one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
2. Nini Rosso: Il Silenzio (1965) (10million) 🇮🇹
This is a predominantly instrumental song. Nini was born in Italy in 1926 and was known as a composer and Jazz trumpeter. The song is based on the Italian Cavalry bugle call, often mistaken by for the US bugle call. The song was released in 1965 and peaked at No1 in Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. To date the song has sold over 10million units worldwide.
3. Baccara: Yes Sir I Can Boogie (1977) (16million) 🇪🇸
Baccara were a Spanish duo, who struck it lucky with their first single: Yes Sir, I Can Boogie. This was a disco hit, which made the duo international celebrities. Unfortunately they were never able to repeat the success of this single. The song sold over 16million units internationally, making it one of the biggest singles of all time, and peaked at No1 in 10 countries, including the UK.
4. Shaddap You Face: Joe Dolce (1981) (6million) 🇺🇸 🇦🇺
Joe Dolce is an Australian-American, who had a major hit with this Latin inspired, comedic song in 1981. The song was inspired by Dolce’s Italian Grandparents and some of their sayings. He wrote the song about Italians living in Australia. The song cost A$500 to record. At the time of its release it sold 6million units internationally and peaked at No1 in 7 countries, including the U.K. and Australia. It held the record for the most successful Australian produced single for 33 years.
5. Kaoma: Lambada (1989) (15million) 🇫🇷 🇧🇷
Kaoma is a Brazilian-French band. The song is sung in Portuguese. It was released in 1989 and is a cover of a 1986 song by Márcia Ferreira. At the time of its release it was the biggest selling European single by CBS records. The song was part of a dance craze. It was the biggest summer hit of the year and sold over 15million units internationally, peaking at No1 in 12 countries.
6. Los Del Rio: Macarena (1994) (11million) 🇪🇸
This song was also part of a dance craze and is performed by the Spanish duo Los Del Rio. The band is considered a one hit wonder. The song is one of the biggest selling singles of the 1990s and of all time. The members became very wealthy from the royalties generated by the song. It spent 14 weeks at No1 in the USA and peaked at No1 in 15 countries. Total world sales amount to 11million units.
7. Living La Vida Loca: Ricky Martin (8million) (1999) 🇵🇷
In the late 1990s there was a Latin music, world revolution. Artists like Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Marc Anthony, Luis Miguel dominated the world music charts. Ricky Martin was a child star, as part of a boy band called Menudo, in Puerto Rico. He became world famous as a solo artist, with this song. The song peaked at No1 in 7 countries, including Canada, USA (spent 5 weeks at No1) and U.K. and sold over 8million units internationally.
8. The Ketchup Song: Las Ketchup (2002) (7million) 🇪🇸
Las Ketchup is another Spanish, one-hit-wonder, duo. The Ketchup Song (Aserejé) was their debut single and was part of another dance craze. The song peaked at No1 in 26 countries, including the U.K. and sold over 7million units internationally, making it one of the biggest selling singles of all time. The duo released one more album after the release of this single, in 2006, but have never since release another album. They still tour together.
9. Hips Don’t Lie: Shakira feat Wyclef Jean (2006) (18million) 🇨🇴 🇭🇹
Shakira is from Colombia and was part of the Latin music revolution of the late 1990s. On this song she featured Haitian born rapper, Wyclef Jean. The song was released in 2006 and peaked at No1 in 17 countries, including the USA and U.K. It has sold over 18million equivalent singles (including streams) worldwide. The song is considered one of the biggest selling singles of the 21st century and has racked up nearly half a billion views on YouTube.
10. On The Floor: Jennifer Lopez feat Pitbull (2011) (11million) 🇺🇸 🇵🇷
Jennifer Lopez, was another artist that was part of the Latin revolution of the late 1990s. She was born in the USA to Puerto Rican parents. The featured artist on this song is Pitbull (Latin American Rapper). This is Jennifer Lopez’s biggest song. The song peaked at No1 in 25 countries, has accumulated over 1billion views on YouTube and is considered one of the biggest selling singles of all time, having sold over 11million units internationally.
11. Give me everything: Pitbull feat Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer (2011) (11million) 🇺🇸 🇨🇺 🇳🇱
2011 seems to have been Pitbull’s year. Pitbull is a rapper that was born in Miami, Florida, USA, to Cuban parents. His featured artists on this song, Afrojack (from the Netherlands), Ne-Yo (from the USA) and Nayer (from Cuba) helped make this song, one on the biggest selling singles of all time, selling over 11million units internationally. The song peaked at No1 in 11 countries, including the USA (his first US No1) and U.K.
12. Michel Teló: Ai Se Eu Te Pego! (2012) (7,2million) 🇧🇷
Michel was born in 1981 and has been in the industry for many years. He started his career at the age of 16 as part of a traditional Brazilian music band. This song was released in 2012 by Michel but was originally performed by Os Meninos De Seu Zeh in 2008. Michel was only the 3rd solo Brazilian artist in history to have a song on the Billboard singles chart. Michel's version of the song is considered to be one of the biggest selling singles of all time, having sold over 7million units internationally and peaked at No1 in over 20 countries.
13. Bailando: Enrique Iglesias feat Sean Paul, Descemer Bueno and Gente de Zona (2014) (8million) 🇪🇸 🇯🇲 🇨🇺
Enrique comes from the royal family of Latin music. His father, Julio Iglesias, is the biggest selling Latin artist of all time. Enrique was born in Spain in 1975. He was another of the Latin pioneers of the late 1990s. This song peaked at No1 in 11 countries, has sold over 8million units internationally and has accumulated over 2billion views on YouTube. It is considered to be one of the biggest selling singles of all time.
14. Despacito: Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber (2017) (6,2million) 🇵🇷 🇺🇸
Despacito is the latest Latin megahit. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee are both from Puerto Rico and this is their first No1 single in the USA. The version of the song that has become a worldwide phenomenon is not even the original version of the song, it is a remix featuring the American pop singer Justin Bieber. The song has presently spent 13 weeks at No1 in the USA, making it one of the longest running No1 singles of all time in the USA. It also peaked at No1 in over 30 countries, is the most watched video in YouTube history, with over 3billion views and is one of the biggest selling singles of all time, having presently sold over 6million units internationally.
