The ''Billboard'' Latin Music Awards grew out of the ''Billboard'' Music Awards program from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine, an industry publication charting the sales and radio airplay success of musical recordings. The ''Billboard'' awards are the

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

industry's longest running award. The award ceremonies are held the same week as Latinfest+ (formerly the ''Billboard'' Latin Music Conference).

History

The first award ceremony began in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

at the

Intercontinental Hotel InterContinental Hotels & Resorts by IHG is a British-American luxury hotel brand created in 1946 by Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. It has been part of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group since 1998. As of January 2023, there were 208 InterCont ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, under the name Latin Music Awards to "represent a broad cross-section of Latino talent, covering every music genre," and was then published in ''Billboard Magazine''. The winners were selected based on points accumulated from ''Billboard'''s radio and retail charts and categorized into subcategories designed to reward artists, songs and albums over one year (between March 6, 1993, to March 5, 1994). The categories of the

were: pop,

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

/ salsa,

regional Mexican Regional Mexican music refers collectively to the regional subgenres of the country music of Mexico and its derivatives from the Southwestern United States. Each subgenre is representative of a certain region and its popularity also varies by ...

, rap,

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. The first ceremony also introduced several special awards, decided by the ''Billboard'' editorial committee: the Latin Music Hall of Fame and

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

, to recognize an artist's career in the Latin music industry and to honor a musical personality who has largely contributed to the Latin music genre. During the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

ceremony the Spirit of Hope Award was introduced as a special honor "in recognition of artists' extraordinary philanthropic and humanitarian contributions beyond their musical work." The

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

ceremony was the first with hosts

Daisy Fuentes Daisy Fuentes (born November 17, 1966) is a Cuban-American model, television host, actress and former weather presenter. Fuentes became MTV's first Latina VJ (signed to MTV and MTV Latin America simultaneously) and Revlon's first Latina spoke ...

and

Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...

. The 1999 awards show, hosted by Daisy Fuentes, was televised for the first time from the

Fontainebleau Hotel The Fontainebleau Miami Beach, also known as the Fontainebleau Hotel, is a hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. Designed by Morris Lapidus, the luxury hotel opened in 1954. In 2007, the Fontainebleau Hotel was ranked ninety-third in th ...

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. Since 2021, the Billboard Icon Award, initially presented exclusively during the Billboard Music Awards, has also been awarded during the Latin ceremony. In 2022, the ceremony introduced the Legend Award given to artists "whose contribution to music makes them a household name and who maintains a career that has withstood the test of time." Musician

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican label Fonovisa where he released three Spanish albums ''Enrique Iglesias (album), Enrique ...

has won 47 awards, Colombian

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

has won 44 awards, and is the most awarded female.

Ceremonies

Categories

The categories are listed according to ''Billboard'''s mention throughout the nominations; any changes in the name during the ceremonies are listed alongside.

Overall artist categories

* Artist of the Year (1994, 1999–present) * New Artist of the Year (–present) * Tour of the Year (–present) * Crossover Artist of the Year (–present) * Global 200 Latin Artist of the Year (2023–present)

Overall songs categories

* Hot Latin Song of the Year (1994, 1999–present) * Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event (–present) * Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year (1994–present) * Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Male (2010–present) * Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Female (2010–present) * Duo/Group Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year (2010–present) * Hot Latin Songs Label of the Year * Hot Latin Songs Imprint of the Year (–2022) * Airplay Song of the Year * Airplay Label of the Year * Airplay Imprint of the Year * Sales Song of the Year (2023–present) * Streaming Song of the Year (2023–present) * Global 200 Latin Song of the Year (2023–present)

Overall albums categories

* Top Latin Album of the Year * Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Duo/Group * Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Male * Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Female * Top Latin Albums Label of the Year * Top Latin Albums Imprint of the Year (–2022)

Latin Pop genre categories

* Latin Pop Artist of the Year * Latin Pop Duo/Group of the Year * Latin Pop Song of the Year * Latin Pop Album of the Year * Latin Pop Airplay Label of the Year * Latin Pop Airplay Imprint of the Year * Latin Pop Albums Label of the Year

Tropical genre categories

* Tropical Artist of the Year, Solo * Tropical Artist of the Year, Duo or Group * Tropical Song of the Year * Tropical Album of the Year (–2022) * Tropical Songs Airplay Label of the Year * Tropical Albums Label of the Year

Regional Mexican categories

* Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Solo * Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Duo or Group * Regional Mexican Song of the Year * Regional Mexican Album of the Year * Regional Mexican Airplay Label of the Year * Regional Mexican Albums Label of the Year

Latin Rhythm categories

* Latin Rhythm Artist of the Year, Solo * Latin Rhythm Artist of the Year, Duo or Group * Latin Rhythm Song of the Year * Latin Rhythm Album of the Year * Latin Rhythm Airplay Label of the Year * Latin Rhythm Albums Label of the Year

Writers, producers and publishers categories

* Songwriter of the Year * Producer of the Year * Publisher of the Year * Publishing Corporation of the Year

Special honors

* Billboard Latin Music Lifetime Achievement Award * Billboard Spirit of Hope Award *Hall of Fame Award

Notes

References

External links

Official site

Telemundo Official Show Site
{{Music industry Telemundo original programming Latin music awards Awards established in 1994 Hispanic American music 1994 establishments in the United States