Ten years ago, Latin music experienced a fresh boom in the reggaetón space, especially coming from Medellín. A wave of then-emerging artists, including J Balvin, Maluma and Karol G, were not only making significant strides in the local Colombian music scene, but also preparing for their international leap.
Notably, Balvin became the It Guy, powering off the momentum he had in 2015, with two songs reaching No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart: “Ay Vamos” and “Ginza.” The latter bumped Nicky Jam and Enrique Iglesias’ “El Perdon” from their No. 1 throne after a marathon 30-week rule.
“I thought, why not go back to reggaetón? Because when all is said and done, it’s part of our culture as Latins,” the Colombian artist said in a 2016 interview with Billboard. “And finally, the song was so hooky, it worked. Let’s be honest, ‘Ginza’ doesn’t really have lyrics to speak of. It’s a party track — a party for reggaetoneros to come out of the closet. We made reggaetón cool again.”
Off of its 2015 success, the Japanese-inspired song kicked off 2016 at No. 1, where it spent 11 more weeks, until a new banger arrived: Nicky Jam’s “Hasta El Amanecer,” which topped Hot Latin Songs for 18 non-consecutive weeks.
In lieu of the current social media trend, where people are unearthing their photos from 2016, Billboard is taking fans down memory lane to every song that hit No. 1 on the Hot Latin Songs chart a decade ago. See which other titles made the cut below:



