Bad Bunny surpasses 100m album sales milestone, fueled by Debí Tirar Más Fotos success

Bad Bunny, the trailblazing Puerto Rican artist redefining Latin music, has achieved an extraordinary milestone: 100 million equivalent album sales. This accomplishment not only places him among the global music elite but cements his status as the greatest Latin artist of all time. Let’s take a closer look at his remarkable journey to this historic feat.

A meteoric rise

Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny, now 30 years old, first gained traction in 2016. At the time, he was a supermarket bagger, unaware that his life was about to change forever so fast. On January 25 of that year, he uploaded the song Diles to SoundCloud. The track generated so much buzz that a remix featuring Latin music heavyweights Ozuna, Farruko, Arcángel and Ñengo Flow quickly followed. The song has now well past a billion views on YouTube.

This breakthrough led to his first recording contract with Hear This Music. By the end of 2016, his debut single, Soy Peor, was out. A top 20 hit on the US Latin charts, the song eventually earned an 11x Platinum Latin certification from the RIAA. It was an incredible start to what would soon become an unparalleled career.

In 2017, Bad Bunny’s momentum continued with highlights like Me Mata, Ahora Me Llama with Karol G, and his first Hot 100 entry, Mayores with Becky G, which became his first chart-topper in Spain. Both Báilame and Sensualidad soon reproduced this feat too, making him one of the hottest rising stars in the Latin music scene.

In 2018, his feature on Carbi B‘s I Like It alongside J Balvin introduced him to global audiences. The song became his first US Hot 100 #1 hit. A certified hit maker, among the biggest Latin artists in the industry, Bad Bunny had yet to release his debut album.

X 100pre’s confirmation

Bad Bunny’s debut album, X 100pre, arrived on Christmas Eve 2018 under Rimas Entertainment. Entirely written by the artist, the 15-track album earned widespread critical acclaim. It peaked at #11 in the US on its second week, and impressed the music industry when it racked up 69 million streams on Spotify during its first frame, a stunning feat for a Latin artist.

The album’s success wasn’t short-lived either. X 100pre spawned nine singles, including the #1 global smash Mía featuring Drake. By then, it was clear that Bad Bunny was ascending to the upper echelons of the music industry. The album has spent a massive177 weeks on the US Billboard 200 and has amassed 7.3 million equivalent album sales worldwide. His units are driven by streaming as Bad Bunny quickly understood Latin music’s consumers had given up purchasing records by the time he debuted.

In an unexpected move, Bad Bunny’s highly anticipated sophomore release came in the form of a collaborative album with J Balvin: Oasis. Home to only 8 songs and barely 31 minutes long, the album delivered two monumental hits – Qué Pretendes and La Canción. The latter will pass 2 billion streams on Spotify this week, and the album has sold 4.8 million units to date.

Outside his albums, the reggaeton king continued to dominate with standalone tracks. Hits like Callaíta, No Me Conoce, and Soltera (Remix) have collectively garnered over 4 billion Spotify streams.

Breaking barriers: the Spotify King

If anyone thought Bad Bunny had peaked, they were mistaken. In 2020, he shattered expectations by becoming Spotify’s most-streamed artist of the year – the first non-English artist ever to achieve this.

His second solo album, YHLQMDLG (acronym for Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana) was an industry earthquake. Its lead single,Vete, topped Latin charts in various Latin countries and eventually crossed the billion-stream mark. The album itself debuted with historic numbers: 296 million first-week Spotify streams, outperforming global hits like The Weeknd‘s After Hours or Ariana Grande‘s Positions.

This achievement was even more astounding when broken down by specific markets. In Mexico, the album amassed a staggering 84 million streams in its first week, while in Chile and Peru, it recorded 36 million and 8 million streams, respectively – setting all-time records in each country. In the US, it debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200, marking the highest-charting all-Spanish album in history at the time and shattering the previous streaming record for a Latin release by a ratio of 4 to 1.

Songs from the album got viral one after the other. Ignorantes, La Difícil, Safaera, Si Veo a Tu Mamá o Yo Perreo Sola succeeded at each other on top of Latin market’s charts. Each of its 20 tracks surpassed 100 million Spotify streams, with 18 surpassing 200 million. The demand was so high that Rimas even issued an album with its outtakes, Las Que No Iban a Salir. YHLQMDLG is on track to hit 12 million sales next month, while the outtakes release moved 2.7 million units.

Later that year, Dákiti, the lead single from his third album, became his most globally successful hit. The song dominated Latin markets, as expected, but also did very well in the Netherlands (#2), US (#5), France (#5), Portugal (#5) and Italy (#11), while also charting from Germany to Greece to the New Zealand. It reaching #1 on Spotify’s global ranking for eight weeks.

In November, its parent album El Último Tour del Mundo was out – his third full lenght effort of 2020. The album smashed upon release with 274 million first week streams worldwide, and made history as the first all-Spanish album to top the US Billboard 200. All its tracks topped 100 million streams too, although it didn’t enjoy as many stand out hits, which put its total results (7 billion streams to date) below its predecessor (10 billion). It’s an 8-million seller.

This unbelievable year saw Bad Bunny crowned as the most streamed artist of 2020 on the platform, a first for a non-English language singer. With El Último Tour del Mundo promoted for several months, new hits smashing (Yonaguni, Volando Remix, Volví, Lo Siento BB:/), and his back catalog doing wonders, he repeated this feat in 2021.

Un Verano Sin Ti: a cultural phenomenon

From 2016 to 2020, Bad Bunny rose from obscurity to dominating the Latin music scene and then the global stage. The next challenge was cementing his place among the all-time greats, not just his contemporaries.”

Released on May 6, 2022 with no preceding single (though the 2019 hit Callaita closes the tracklist) Un Verano Sin Ti immediately set a new standard in Latin music. It got the kind of success that only happens once every 50+ years, like Michael Jackson‘s Thriller for English language albums, Celine Dion‘s D’Eux (French) and Hikaru Utada‘s First Love (Japanese). Yes, it’s that kind of success.

Before its release, two streaming records seemed unbeatable – Drake‘s Scorpion first week streams (559 million), and Ed Sheeran‘s Divide total streams (12b+). They were untouched for years, with nothing coming even close. Yet, a Latin album, mechanically limited to a lower pool of listeners, was going to beat them both.

Un Verano Sin Ti kicked off with 618 million first week streams. And then it never slowed down. By the end of 2022, it was up to 9.5 billion – averaging 279 million weekly streams for 8 months. Only five albums surpassed that in a single week during 2022, imagine pacing at that level for 8 months! And then, it took Taylor Swift‘s Midnights impressive run to barely block Un Verano Sin Ti from leading the most streamed albums again in 2023.

AS of now, the album boasts 6 tracks (Me Porto Bonito, Tití Me Preguntó, Ojitos Lindo, Callaita, Efecto, Moscow Mule) at 1.25+ billion streams, 15 at 500m+, and 22 at 369m+. With a total of 18.6 billion streams, it leads by more than 2.5 billion over any other album.

Of course, it went to #1 in the US, but to really grasp how ridiculously popular it has been in the Latin world, let’s just dive quickly into his chart run in Spain. The album reigned for 25 weeks at #1, held a top 5 spot for 81 weeks, and spent 113 weeks in the top 10. It has never dropped below #23 since its release, currently sitting at #5 on its 143rd week.

Across all formats, the album became the first Latin album to exceed 20 million sales and is rapidly approaching 21 million. It’s the most successful album of the decade so far, as detailed below.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos dominates 2025

When Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana dropped in late 2023, it faced the daunting task of following Un Verano Sin Ti, the most successful Latin album of all time. As expected, its results were seen as underwhelming in comparison.

However, in absolute terms, it performed solidly. This week, Perro Negro will become its first track to surpass 1 billion streams, with Where She Goes potentially joining it in the future. The album itself is about to cross 5 billion streams on Spotify, making it one of the platform’s top 10 most streamed Latin albums. With 5.5 million units sold, it held its ground in a tough position.

As he did after the slight dip in success with El Último Tour Del Mundo, Bad Bunny has once again rebounded. The lead single from 2025’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, EL CLúB, initially had a lukewarm reception, raising doubts about the album’s potential. But in just five weeks, Debí Tirar Más Fotos has amassed 2.2 billion streams and continues to add nearly 50 million streams daily.

The standout track DtMF went viral, topping Spotify’s charts in every Spanish-speaking market and extending its dominance to the US, Italy, France, Portugal, Lithuania, and Latvia. It also reached the top 5 in countries like Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Estonia. Even in markets resistant to Latin music, like Germany (#7), the UK (#20), Sweden (#20), and Brazil (#55), it made a significant impact. The song spent 16 days at #1 globally.

With its fantastic start and ongoing strength, Debí Tirar Más Fotos is already the clear frontrunner for 2025’s most-streamed album.

Bad Bunny’s place in music history

With over 100 billion YouTube views under his belt, and soon-to-be 100 billion streams all-credits on Spotify as well – by late April at current pace – Bad Bunny‘s success is unparalleled among Latin artists. He has now surpassed the unbelievable milestone of 100 million equialent album sales, joining the ranks of music legends.

For decades, Julio Iglesias reigned as the best-selling Latin artist of all time. With roughly 100 million equivalent album sales, he was the only one in nine digits. Bad Bunny has now matched – and arguably surpassed – him, given that Iglesias’ total includes millions from music recorded in multiple languages. In terms of Spanish-language music alone, Bad Bunny is second to none.

The Puerto Rican’s achievements are also placing him among global greats. He is the first artist to debut in the last 10 years to reach 100 million album units. Since the beginning of the year, he moved past iconic names like Creedence Clearwater Revival, Roberto Carlos, Depeche Mode and Bruno Mars in the highest selling artists ever leaderboad. Backstreet Boys, The Police, Nirvana and Van Halen are within a striking distance.

With 117 million sales required to break into the top 50, Bad Bunny is well-positioned to achieve this milestone within this year – he is currently at #67 (see picture below). The top 25 will require more hard work – Whitney Houston closes it at the moment with 161 million units overall.

The question isn’t anymore whether Bad Bunny is the most successful Latin artist of all time – it’s how much higher he can climb in the pantheon of music legends.

We have more for you…

… our analysis of Bad Bunny‘s full discography

… the best selling artists through the years, with Bad Bunny part of the leading pack since he debuted.

Most successful artists ever.
Numbers in equivalent album sales through all formats over 6-rolling-years eras. Based on original recordings’ release dates.
Video created with Flourish.

… our streaming tops and tools

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