NorteñoBlog

In the least surprising news since House Speaker Paul Ryan tossed his scruples into the Potomac and signed a legislative blood pact with Donald Trump, su padrino el diablo, this week’s Billboard Hot Latin chart finds itself dominated by the late Juan Gabriel. He’s got 10 of the top 50 songs, from recent work (his cover of CCR’s “Have You Seen the Rain” and a couple duet remakes) to standards like “Amor Eterno” and “Querida,” his highest placer at #4. The more I hear “Querida,” the more I’m convinced that it — and not Limahl’s “Neverending Story” — was the greatest song of 1984. Gabriel definitely has the bigger vocal range, but the song’s semi-improvised crescendo makes you work for its pleasure; it’s not a pure shot of mind-numbing knee-wobbling endorphin like Giorgio Moroder’s synths and chord changes. Fortunately, pleasure isn’t a zero-sum game! That said, there must only be one Pick to Click:

The magazine reports that most of Gabriel’s chart traffic comes from streams and sales. Indeed, while I’ve heard some Gabriel songs on the radio — “No Vale La Pena” (ironically?) brightened my day — his impact there is too diluted to affect the radio charts. Billboard also reported a 566% increase in JuanGa music on the radio, from 2,000 spins to 13,000 in the week following his death — which, if my math checks out, translates into approximately 26-to-30 million “audience impressions.”* Impressive! But to find its way onto a radio chart, a particular song would need to hog one tenth of those impressions to itself, and Gabriel’s fecundity made that unlikely. He simply had too many songs that people loved and wanted to hear.

Gabriel is far and away the best-charting dead singer this week. For the past year and change, that honor has belonged to Ariel Camacho, who’s been haunting the charts with his own posthumous hits and the soundalike new songs of the band he left behind, Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho. Apparently Gabriel lured away the coveted “dead singer tribute streaming” contingent, because all Camacho and Los Plebes’ songs have dropped from the charts except for “Que Caro Estoy Pagando,” #20 Regional Mexican Airplay. But fear not: teen Sierreño sensations Ulices Chaidez y Sus Plebes are happy to fill the void with their previous Pick to Click “Andamos en el Ruedo,” now #47 Hot Latin.

Perhaps feeling Gabriel’s chivalrous legacy, streamers have also backed away from Gerardo Ortiz‘s ladykilling “Fuiste Mia” video, now taking up space only on the airplay chart at #5. Brother Kevin‘s banda barnburner “A Los 18” is down at #17.

(* To show what difference a modest increase in spins can make in a large radio market, check this math from an August 30 article about “Fuiste Mia”: ““Fuiste Mia” vaults to No. 1 [Regional Mexican Airplay] with a 42 percent gain in airplay audience at the format in the week ending Aug. 28, according to Nielsen Music, rising to 10.63 million. A healthy chunk of that rise is owed to increased play at KLAX in Los Angeles, which doubled its plays of the song from 30 spins to 60 in the latest tracking week (growing it by 116 percent in audience, to 990,000). Among all regional Mexican radio stations that report to the chart, “Fuiste Mia’s” largest supporter, in terms of audience, is [Houston’s] KLTN, with 1.1 million for the week.” That’s right: 30 spins in L.A. translates into almost half a million impressions, or a little less than 5% of a #1 song’s chart traffic. Your request counts! Unless you live in Iowa or someplace.)

These are the top 50 Hot Latin Songs and top 20 Regional Mexican Songs, courtesy Billboard, as published September 17.

1. “Duele El Corazón” – Enrique Iglesias ft. Wisin
2. “Hasta El Amanecer” – Nicky Jam (34 weeks!)
3. “La Bicicleta” – Carlos Vives & Shakira
4. “Querida” – Juan Gabriel
5. “Shaky Shaky” – Daddy Yankee
6. “Chillax” – Farruko ft. Ky-Mani Marley
7. “Bobo” – J Balvin
8. “Hasta Que Te Conocí” – Juan Gabriel
9. “Ay Mi Dios” – IAmChino ft. Pitbull, Yandel & Chacal
10. “Así Fue” – Juan Gabriel

11. “Me Vas a Extrañar” – Banda MS (#1 RegMex)
12. “El Perdedor” – Maluma
13. “Abrazame Muy Fuerte” – Juan Gabriel
14. “La Carretera” – Prince Royce
15. “Ya Me Enteré” – Reik
16. “Yo Te Recuerdo” – Juan Gabriel ft. Marc Anthony
17. “Amor del Bueno” – Calibre 50 (#2 RegMex)
18. “Sola” – Becky G
19. “Amor Eterno” – Juan Gabriel
20. “Me Está Gustando” – Banda Los Recoditos (#3 RegMex)

21. “Nunca Me Olvides” – Yandel
22. “Otra Vez” – Zion & Lennox ft. J Balvin
23. “El Noa Noa” – Juan Gabriel
24. “Me Va a Pesar” – Arrolladora (#4 RegMex)
25. “De Pies a Cabeza” – Maná & Nicky Jam
26. “Safari” – J Balvin ft. Pharrell Williams, BIA & Sky
27. “Te Dirán” – La Adictiva Banda (#9 RegMex)
28. “Deja Que Te Bese” – Alejandro Sanz ft. Marc Anthony
29. “Si No Te Quiere” – Ozuna ft. Arcangel & Farruko
30. “Quisiera” – CNCO

31. “Yo Si Me Enamoré” – La Séptima Banda (#6 RegMex)
32. “La Frontera” – Juan Gabriel ft. Julión Álvarez & J Balvin
33. “Algo Contigo” – Gente de Zona
34. “Imaginar” – Victor Manuelle and Yandel
35. “¿Desde Cuándo No Me Quieres?” – Banda Carnaval (#8 RegMex)
36. “Quien Te Entiende” – Crecer German (#18 RegMex)
37. “Todo o Nada” – Alfredo Olivas (#12 RegMex)
38. “Si Ella Quisiera” – Justin Quiles
39. “A Donde Voy” – Cosculluela ft. Daddy Yankee
40. “Bailar” – Deorro ft. Elvis Crespo

41. “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” – Juan Gabriel
42. “Sin Contrato” – Maluma ft. Fifth Harmony
43. “Acércate” – De La Ghetto
44. “Tengo Que Colgar” – Banda MS
45. “Ella Y Yo” – Pepe Quintana ft. Farruko, Anuel AA, Tempo, Almighty, and Bryant Myers
46. “Te Quise Olvidar” – Juan Gabriel ft. Alejandro Fernandez
47. “Andamos en el Ruedo” – Ulices Chaidez y Sus Plebes
48. “Como Sanar” – Frank Reyes
49. “Quiéreme (Ámame)” – Intocable (#13 RegMex)
50. “Vine a Decir” – Christian Daniel ft. Jerry Rivera

¡Adios!
“Take It Off” – Lil Jon ft. Yandel & Becky G
“Casi Nada” – Karol G
“Not a Crime (No Es Ilegal)” – Play-N-Skillz x Daddy Yankee
“Una En Un Millon” – Alexis & Fido
“Baila Conmigo” – Juan Magan ft. Luciana
“Corazón Acelerado” – Wisin
“La Ocasión” – DJ Luian & Mambo Kings Presentan: De La Ghetto Featuring Arcangel X Ozuna X Anuel
“Embriagame” – Zion & Lennox
“Andas En Mi Cabeza” – Chino & Nacho ft. Daddy Yankee

—————–

5. “Fuiste Mia” – Gerardo Ortiz
7. “Cicatriiices” – Regulo Caro
10. “Si No Es Contigo” – Banda El Recodo

11. “Espero Con Ansias” – Remmy Valenzuela
14. “No Es Normal” – Cheyo Carrillo
15. “Me Gustas” – El Coyote y Su Banda
16. “Todo Es Diferente” – La Maquinaria Norteña (#12 RegMex)
17. “A Los 18” – Kevin Ortiz ft. Beto Vega
19. “Como Quiera Sigo Vivo” – Los Rieleros del Norte
20. “Que Caro Estoy Pagando” – Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho

¡Adios!
“Amor de los Pobres” – La Original Banda el Limón
“No Lo Hice Bien” – Los Plebes Del Rancho de Ariel Camacho
“Bien Servida” – Los Gfez ft. Diego Herrera
“Rumbo A Maza” – Los Titanes de Durango
“El Mentado” – Los Plebes del Rancho de Ariel Camacho
“No Me Vas a Convencer” – Conjunto Primavera ft. Antonio Meléndez
“Yo Quisiera Entrar” – Ariel Camacho y Los Plebes del Rancho