Juan Gabriel Earns Third No. 1 in Less Than a Year on Top Latin Albums
Just 10 months after Juan Gabriel's Los Duo crowned Top Latin Albums – the set that finished first on Billboard's year-end Latin albums chart – the Mexican crooner returns to the top of the list with…
Just 10 months after Juan Gabriel’s Los Duo crowned Top Latin Albums — the set that finished first on Billboard’s year-end Latin albums chart — the Mexican crooner returns to the top of the list with its follow up, Los Duo 2 (chart dated Jan. 2, 2016).
The Year in Latin 2015: Romeo Santos & Juan Gabriel Dominate the Charts
While Gabriel has been one of the Latin industry’s most successful artists since his career started in the 1970s, the latest entry is only his third solo No. 1 — all of which have been achieved in the last 10 months. After Los Duo, his greatest hits Mis Numero 1…40 Aniversario led the list for a week in October. However, Juntos Otra Vez, his collaborative album with ranchera singer Rocio Durcal, was his first time at the top, when it capped the chart for two weeks in 1997.
The new star-studded duets set, which opens with 9,000 copies (according to Nielsen Music), includes Ana Gabriel, Alejandro Fernandez and Jose Feliciano among others, who assist in covering many of Gabriel’s hits. A broad variety of invitees appear, including rising stars like Carla Morrison (on Gabriel’s 1978 classic “Yo Se Que Esta En Tu Corazon”), while regional Mexican act Julion Alvarez and Colombian breakout urban act J Balvin both lend their voices on a reworking of his 1980 hit, “La Frontera.”
Tropical superstar Marc Anthony joins Gabriel on “Yo Te Recuerdo,” transforming the pop tune to a salsa smash, which debuts at No. 12 on Tropical Digital Songs upon the album’s arrival.
The release of the new album spurs gains for Los Duo, which is the week’s Greatest Gainer — stepping 7-6 (up 41 percent to 2,000 copies), and Mis Numero 1 climbing 9-7 (29 percent rise to 1,000 units). Gabriel becomes only the seventh artist to have three simultaneously charting albums in the top 10 on Top Latin Albums.
Most recently Joan Sebastian, also a collaborator on Los Duo 2, posted five top 10 sets in August, following his death on July 13, 2015. Sebastian recorded “Lagrimas y Lluvia,” Gabriel’s mariachi hit from 1974, prior to his passing.
