The 26th annual Billboard Latin Music Awards, airing live on Telemundo on April 30, may be the biggest and brightest edition yet, judging by this freshly uncovered list of first performers.
Top-tier artists from every genre will grace the stage of the BankUnited Center in Miami Fla., including Puerto Rico’s own reggaeton pioneer Daddy Yankee — who holds the record for most top 10’s on the Latin Rhythm Airplay chart with 30 songs — and fellow urban music leader Wisin, who is up for four awards this year for his chart-blazing work as a solo artist on El Regreso del Sobreviviente.
Colombia will be superbly represented by vallenato king Carlos Vives and reggaeton’s newest sensation, J Balvin, a 12-time finalist this year, thanks in large part to his breakout hit, “6 a.m.” The Medellín native will contend for Artist of the Year, New, among other key categories.
Mexican songstress Ana Gabriel, who has 20 top 10s on the Hot Latin Songs chart (the third-most top 10s for a female singer after Gloria Estefan and Shakira), is also set to perform, along with Lucero. Both are finalists in the Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Female category.
On the regional Mexican end, powerhouse Julion Alvarez y su Norteño Banda, up for six awards this year, is confirmed.
The Billboard Latin Music Awards, presented by State Farm, honor the most popular albums, songs, and performers in Latin music, as determined by the actual sales, radio airplay, streaming and social data that informs Billboard’s weekly charts during a one-year period from the issue dated Feb. 1, 2014 through this year’s Jan. 31, 2015 issue. See the complete list of this year’s finalists here.
The star-studded event serves as the capper to the 2015 Billboard Latin Music Conference, taking place April 27 – 30 at The Ritz Carlton in Miami Beach under the slogan “The Top Artists, The Top Trends, The Top Names in Music.”
Romeo Santos, who tops the lists of nominees for this year’s Billboard Latin Music Awards with 21 nods, will headline the conference with an exclusive Q&A. The king of bachata will sit down with Billboard’s Leila Cobo to discuss the success of his album Formula, Vol. 2, his appearance in the films Furious 7 and Angry Birds, his social strategy, his two sold-out Yankee Stadium shows, his appeal as a bilingual Latino and his upcoming tour, among other subjects.
Visit BillboardLatinConference.com or email conferences@billboard.com to register and see the full list of provocative presentations, panel discussions, exclusive Q&A’s, compelling case studies, cutting-edge artist showcases, and exclusive networking events rounding out this year’s edition of the world’s longest-running and most prestigious event dedicated to Latin music.