After winning Latin artist of the year at the Billboard Latin Music Awards in April, newcomer Ozuna doubles the feat, beating veterans J Balvin, Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Romeo Santos to win top Latin artist of the year at the Billboard Music Awards.
It’s an extraordinary achievement for an artist with just one album to his name. But what an album. Back in March, Ozuna’s Odisea (DimeloVi/VP Entertainment/Sony Music) made history on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart, after it notched its 30th week atop the list (dated March 31). That’s the most weeks at No. 1 for an album by a male artist in the 24-year history of the tally, besting Luis Miguel‘s Segundo Romance.
Odisea now holds as the album with the third-most weeks atop the list among all albums, behind only the all-time leader, Gloria Estefan‘s Mi Tierra (58 weeks in 1993-94), and Selena‘s Dreaming of You (44 weeks at No. 1 in 1995-97).
It’s no surprise, then, that Odisea also won top Latin album of the year at the Billboard Music Awards, beating iconic stars like Shakira and Romeo Santos. The two nods were among the early wins announced before the broadcast of the awards show.
Ozuna was also up in the top Latin song category, as a featured artist on Wisin’s “Escápate Conmigo.” But that was an impossible category; the winner, of course, was “Despacito,” with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, featuring Justin Bieber.
“Despacito” also won top streaming song (video) and top selling song, besting Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” and Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” and “Thunder.”
