The finalists for the 2020 Billboard Latin Music Awards have been revealed.
Bad Bunny and Ozuna are charging ahead this year with fourteen mentions each, alongside Daddy Yankee, J Balvin and Anuel AA. Perhaps the most hotly-anticipated accolade of the ceremony is Artist of The Year, with a list of nominations that includes all the finalists above. Ozuna has claimed the award for the last two years in a row.
The event will be broadcasted via Telemundo on Thursday April 23rd. The Latin Music Awards are by far the most popular and significant award show to honour the most popular songs, albums and performers in Latin music. Rather than being chosen by a panel of judges, the winners are calculated through the number of physical sales, streaming numbers, radio airplay and social data throughout a one-year period, spanning from February 2nd to January 25th. Find out more about this year’s finalist’s below.
Bad Bunny
Bad Bunny’s career has skyrocketed and is looking like he has no plans of coming back down. Considered as one of the pioneers of Latin trap music, the Puerto Rican artist got his first taste of the spotlight after a collaboration with J Balvin “Si Tu Novio Te Deja Sola” dominated the airwaves back in 2017. Since then, he has made his way into working with some of today’s biggest names like Drake, Jennifer Lopez and Cardi B. His debut studio album X 100Pre landed him his very first No 1 on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums Chart. In 2019, Bad Bunny managed to land himself a colossal 32 songs on the Hot Latin Songs chart, including the massively popular “Callaita”, which peaked at No 2. He has also made appearances across multiple other genres through a wide range of collaborations with other artists from both South and North America.
Ozuna
Sharing the spotlight with Bad Bunny is Ozuna, who is no stranger to the Billboard Latin Music Awards stage. 2019 was an incredible year for Ozuna, taking home 11 awards and breaking the record for most nominations, with 23 across 15 different categories. Declared by many as the “new king of reggaeton”, Ozuna has established himself at the top level of the music industry, working on collaborations with artists like P Diddy, Snoop Dogg, Swae Lee, DJ Snake and many more. Billboard have confirmed that the artist will be a speaker at this year’s LatinFest+ in Las Vegas this April.
J Balvin
Another artist that has been confirmed as a speaker at this year’s LatinFest+ is J Balvin. Fresh off the stage of the Super Bowl 54 Halftime Show, performing as Jennifer Lopez’s guest, the artist is another finalist for the fourth year in a row. The name J Balvin has been almost everywhere this last year, after teaming up with Bad Bunny for the joint album Oasis and releasing a series of highly successful solo tracks. His first No 1 was the hit song “I Like It” with Cardi B, and the recent release “Ritmo” landed him his 55th entry on the Hot Latin Songs chart, becoming his eighth No 1 single.
Romeo Santos
After being named Artist of The Year at the 2016 Billboard Latin Music Awards, Romeo Santos is back and ready to challenge some of reggaeton’s biggest names. His fourth studio album Utopia has earned him his fifth No 1 spot on the Top Latin Albums chart. As a leading light within the genres of bachata-urbano and Dominican music, Santos has been nominated for five awards this year.