NorteñoBlog

As NorteñoBlog mentioned last time, Sierreño fever is currently spreading across the land like walkingdead-itis. This is largely thanks to the late Ariel Camacho, whose namesake guitar-tuba trio Los Plebes Del Rancho de Ariel Camacho just debuted at #1 on Billboard‘s Latin Albums chart with their first album since Camacho died a year ago. This fever has also led to a possibly unprecedented scenario on the Hot Latin Songs chart, where for the second week in a row, five of the top 25 songs are by Sierreño trios. Sure, that’s less representation than reggaeton bangers or banda ballads, but it’s still a sizable voting bloc. Think of Sierreño as the Bernie Sanders to banda’s Hillary Clinton and reggaeton’s Donald Trump. (Ted Cruz can be bachata and John Kasich can be Jesse & Joy.) Yes, think of that; and then weep.

Four of those songs are by Los Plebes themselves, enjoying(?) a long, rolling death bump that’s taking place mostly on the internet. Billboard reports that some of Los Plebes’ new videos are logging around a million streams a week, most of them on YouTube, and that Camacho himself just scored his 10th Hot Latin single since his death. (“Yo Quisiera Entrar” debuted at #41.) There’s precedent for this: Jenni Rivera, for instance, has scored eight Hot Latin hits since her death in 2012. Although most of them were minor hits,“La Misma Gran Señora” got all the way up to #9. Rivera, though, doesn’t have a banda that continues to make music in her name, so who knows how long Los Plebes can keep this going or when they’ll lay claim to their own identity.

Aside from “DEL Negociante,” the new Los Plebes singles haven’t grabbed me like Camacho’s best songs. Both “Que Caro Estoy Pagando” and “No Lo Hice Bien” aim for the thoughtful romantic hypnosis of Camacho’s “Te Metiste” and “Hablemos.” New singer José Manuel López Castro sings the requisite melodic leaps and squints into the distance seriously. But though tubist Omar Burgos still gets in some cool licks, López Castro is a less interesting guitarist than Camacho was, and the band rarely finds the polyrhythmic interplay that used to bail out their slower compositions. Where Camacho’s music often threatened to turn tedious over the course of an album, but didn’t, Los Plebes’ new music frequently achieves tedium.

Just like this week’s charts! The top 12 songs on Hot Latin are the same as they were two weeks ago, just shuffled a bit, and there’s only one new song on the Regional Mexican radio chart, way down at #20. Fortunately, it’s a keeper. Intocable‘s “Tu Ausencia” does most of what Intocable does best. It’s catchy as all get out — if you’ve been hearing it on the radio, the chorus hook goes “Me faaaaltas tú,” but don’t confuse it with their decade-old tune “Me Faltas Tu,” which rocked where this one lopes. It’s got top notch playing, with an especially hot accordion solo from Ricky Muñoz, and a distorted guitar winks at the idea of crossing over to Latin pop fans. Pick to Click!

These are the top 25 Hot Latin Songs and top 20 Regional Mexican Songs, courtesy Billboard, as published March 26.

1. “Hasta El Amanecer” – Nicky Jam
2. “Ginza” – J Balvin (34 weeks!)
3. “Solo Con Verte” – Banda MS (#1 RegMex)
4. “El Perdón” – Nicky Jam & Enrique Iglesias (58 weeks!)
5. “Encantadora” – Yandel
6. “Borro Cassette” – Maluma (34 weeks!)
7. “Obsesionado” – Farruko
8. “Traidora” – Gente de Zona ft. Marc Anthony
9. “¿Por Qué Terminamos?” – Gerardo Ortiz (#2 RegMex)
10. “Culpa Al Corazón” – Prince Royce

11. “Ya Te Perdí La Fe” – Arrolladora (#3 RegMex)
12. “Hablemos” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes Del Rancho (#10 RegMex)
13. “Tomen Nota” – Adriel Favela ft. Los Del Arroyo (#4 RegMex)
14. “Como Lo Hacia Yo” – Ken-Y & Nicky Jam
15. “DEL Negociante” – Los Plebes Del Rancho de Ariel Camacho
16. “Préstamela a Mi” – Calibre 50 (#5 RegMex)
17. “¿Por Qué Me Ilusionaste?” – Remmy Valenzuela (#7 RegMex)
18. “Pistearé” – Banda Los Recoditos (#13 RegMex)
19. “Te Busco” – Cosculluela ft. Nicky Jam (or vice versa)
20. “Hasta Que Se Seque El Malecón” – Jacob Forever

21. “No Lo Hice Bien” – Los Plebes Del Rancho de Ariel Camacho
22. “Broche de Oro” – La Trakalosa de Monterrey (#9 RegMex)
23. “Que Caro Estoy Pagando” – Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho
24. “Embriagame” – Zion & Lennox
25. “No Soy Una de Esas” – Jesse & Joy ft. Alejandro Sanz

¡Adios!
“Las Cosas de la Vida” – Carlos Vives
“Vaiven” – Daddy Yankee
“El Taxi” – Pitbull ft. Sensato, Lil Jon & Osmani Garcia
“Desde Esa Noche” – Thalia ft. Maluma
—————–

6. “Me Empezó A Valer” – La Séptima Banda
8. “Vale la Pena” – Roberto Tapia

11. “Nadie Como Tú” – Banda Clave Nueva de Max Peraza
12. “Después de Ti, ¿Quién?” – La Adictiva Banda
14. “Pero Sin Enamorarse” – Jesus Ojeda y Sus Parientes
15. “Quién Fue” – Larry Hernández
16. “Moneda Sin Valor” – Pesado
17. “El Americano” – Omar Ruiz
18. “Panchito El F1” – Los Tucanes de Tijuana
19. “Mi Niña Adorada” – Saul “El Jaguar” Alarcón
20. “Tu Ausencia” – Intocable

¡Adios!
“Pongamonos de Acuerdo” – Julión Álvarez y Su Norteño Banda