2018 was a big year for Latin music.
Data company BuzzAngle tracked music consumption in the United States from Dec. 29, 2017 to Dec. 27, 2018 and the results are surprising… but not really.
According to their findings, Latin music has passed country music for the 5th most popular genre in America. In terms of album consumption, Latin made up 9.4% of market last year, good for the fifth-biggest genre, with hip-hop leading the way 21.7%. Pop, rock and R&B music rounded out the Top 5 with country falling to 6th at 8.7% and EDM at #7 with 3.9%.
Same went for song consumption.
Granted, we did see an increase in Latin collaborations this past year such as Cardi B’s with J. Balvin and Bad Bunny, along with breakout Latin pop stars like Camila Cabello. No to mention “Despacito” was also an absolute smash in 2017, likely contributing to the boom this year.
Look, this isn’t a political discussion and I definitely don’t want to start a race discussion either, but more importantly, I think it says something about the state of country music. When shitty pop music can pass for country, all you do is water down the country music brand. An inferior product, produces inferior results. It’s that simple.
Latin music boomed in 2018 and for good reason, people like it. Can country get back to its roots and do the same in 2019? We’ll have to wait and see.
That being said, Latin, pop and country all came together this past year when Camila Cabello released a remix of “Never Be The Same,” featuring Kane Brown.
