2017 in Latin music



This is a list of notable events in Latin music (music from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking regions of Latin America, Latin Europe, and the United States) that took place in 2017.

January–March

 * January 5 – Gerardo Ortiz breaks the record for most number ones by a solo artist on the Billboard Regional Mexican Songs chart. The singer placed his eight number one "Regresa Hermosa" on the January 14-dated chart, breaking the tie with Vicente Fernandez.
 * January 6 – In their annual report, Nielsen Soundscan found that overall sales of Latin albums and digitally purchased songs decreased compared to their previous report despite a strong increase in music streaming. With the continuing pattern of increased music streams, Latin music as a whole increased by 13.6% compared to 2015, thus making Latin music the third major genre in year-over-year growth following R&B and holiday music. The report also notes the discrepancy in musical styles between the bestselling Latin albums and singles of the year.
 * January 12 – Billboard updates the methodology for the Tropical Airplay chart to track airplay of tropical from Spanish-language radio stations Previously, the Tropical Airplay ranked the most-played songs on tropical radio stations of any genre.
 * January 24 – Alejandro Fernández's management team files a lawsuit against fellow Mexican singer Luis Miguel in breach of a contract and not paying back the money given to Miguel for the canceled tour that was set to launch last year.
 * January 31 – Beginning with the February 11-dated chart, Billboard's Top Latin Albums, Latin Pop Albums, Regional Mexican Albums, and its Tropical Albums charts allowed catalog entry into their respective genre-specific charts; a ban the company held for over a decade.
 * February 23 – The 29th Annual Lo Nuestro Awards are held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Major winners include CNCO, Carlos Vives, Shakira and J Balvin.
 * March 15 – The 25th Annual ASCAP Latin Awards are held at the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. "Duele el Corazón" by Enrique Iglesias featuring Wisin is named Song of the Year while Joss Favela is recognized as Composer of the Year and Daddy Yankee receives the Composer/Artist of the Year award. Puerto Rican salsa group El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico receives the Latin Heritage Award and Puerto Rican-American rapper Vico C receives the Vanguard Award.
 * March 22 – The 24th BMI Latin Awards are held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hill California. "Ginza" by J Balvin is named Contemporary Latin Song of the Year while Gocho and Motiff are recognized as Contemporary Latin Songwriters of the Year. Mexican-American group Los Lobos receives the Icon Award.

April–June

 * April 24 – The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) reports growth in revenue in the Latin music industry in the United States for the first time since 2005. The growth is attributed to the rise of streaming audio.
 * April 27 – The Billboard Latin Music Awards of 2017 take place at the Ritz Carlton in Miami, Florida. Reggaeton musician Nicky Jam is the biggest winner, with six awards.
 * May 2 – Mexican singer Luis Miguel is arrested by US marshals for not paying his former manager William Brockhaus over one million dollars following a court order in July 2016.
 * May 5 – For the first time since George W. Bush initiated the annual Cinco de Mayo event in 2001, no musician attends the event in Washington D.C. President Donald Trump does not attend the event, becoming the first president to not host the event. The event is instead hosted by Vice President Mike Pence.
 * May 13 – Portugal wins the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 – the country's first win since it began participating in 1964. It is the first winning song performed in a country's native language since 's "Molitva" in, and the first ever in Portuguese.
 * May 15 – "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee becomes the first mostly Spanish-language song to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States since "Macarena" by Los del Río" in 1996. The success of the song is propelled by Justin Bieber's remix of the song. The song's commercial success renews interest in the Latin music market from recording labels in the United States.

July–December

 * July 9 – Daddy Yankee becomes the most listened-to artist worldwide on streaming service Spotify, being the first Latin artist to do so.


 * July 31 – Spanish writer Daniela Bose, writes on the disparity of women in Spanish music on Spain's music charts. Her report found that consumers replaced Latin pop and Spanish music with reggaeton and trap music; genres that belittle women with lyrics that speak of adulterous acts.
 * September 19 – The Latin Recording Academy postpones the announcement of the nominations for the 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards due to the earthquake in Mexico which occurred a day before nominations were to be revealed as well as other natural disasters affecting Spanish-speaking communities.
 * November 16 – The 18th Annual Latin Grammy Awards are held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
 * "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee wins the Latin Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
 * Salsa Big Band by Rubén Blades and Roberto Delgado & Orquesta wins the Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
 * Vicente García wins Best New Artist.

Number-ones albums and singles by country

 * List of number-one hits of 2017 (Argentina)
 * List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2017 (Brazil)
 * List of number-one songs of 2017 (Colombia)
 * List of number-one albums of 2017 (Mexico)
 * List of number-one songs of 2017 (Mexico)
 * List of number-one albums of 2017 (Portugal)
 * List of number-one albums of 2017 (Spain)
 * List of number-one singles of 2017 (Spain)
 * List of number-one Billboard Latin Albums from the 2010s
 * List of number-one Billboard Hot Latin Songs of 2017
 * List of number-one singles of 2017 (Venezuela)

Awards

 * 2017 Premio Lo Nuestro
 * 2017 Billboard Latin Music Awards
 * 2017 Latin American Music Awards
 * 2017 Latin Grammy Awards
 * 2017 Heat Latin Music Awards
 * 2017 MTV Millennial Awards

Best-selling albums
The following is a list of the top 10 best-selling Latin albums in the United States in 2017, according to Billboard.

Best-performing songs
The following is a list of the top 10 best-performing Latin songs in the United States in 2017, according to Billboard.

Deaths

 * January 1 – Memo Morales, 79, Venezuelan singer
 * January 13 – Horacio Guarany, 91, Argentine folkloric singer and writer, cardiac arrest.
 * January 19 – Loalwa Braz, 63, Brazilian singer-songwriter ("Lambada"), burns.
 * January 23 – Bimba Bosé, 41, Italian-born Spanish model, designer, singer and actress, breast cancer.
 * January 27 – Elkin Ramírez, 54, Colombian singer-songwriter (Kraken), brain cancer.
 * February 15 – Tibério Gaspar, 73, Brazilian composer and musician
 * February 25 – Fernando Toussaint, Mexican jazz musician and composer
 * February 27 – Fernando Riba, 67, Mexican songwriter
 * March 8 – Dave Valentin, 64, American Latin jazz flautist, Parkinson's disease.
 * March 11 – Ángel Parra, 73, Chilean singer and songwriter, lung cancer.
 * April 7 – Sal Cuevas, 61, American salsa bassist
 * April 13 – José Miguel Class, 78, Puerto Rican singer.
 * April 14 – Martín Elías, 26, Colombian vallenato singer (traffic collision).
 * April 23 – Jerry Adriani, 70, Brazilian singer and actor (cancer)
 * April 30 – Belchior, 70, Brazilian singer and composer
 * May 19 – Kid Vinil, 62, Brazilian musician and record producer
 * June 14 – Luis Abanto Morales, 93, Peruvian singer and composer.
 * June 16 – Eliza Clívia, 37, Brazilian singer, traffic collision.
 * July 9 – Paquita Rico, 87, Spanish singer and actress (Let's Make the Impossible!, The Balcony of the Moon, Where Are You Going, Alfonso XII?).
 * July 18 – José Bragato, 101, Italian-born Argentine cellist, composer, conductor and arranger (Teatro Colón).
 * July 20 – Wilindoro Cacique, 75, Peruvian Amazonian cumbia musician (Juaneco y Su Combo), pancreatic cancer.
 * July 21 – Juan Romero, 88, Mexican Christian singer
 * August 4
 * Luiz Melodia, 66, Brazilian actor, singer, and songwriter (bone marrow cancer)
 * Jessy Serrata, 63, American Tejano musician, kidney cancer.
 * August 19 – Concha Valdés Miranda, 89, Cuban composer
 * August 26 – Wilson das Neves, 81, Brazilian percussionist and singer
 * September 4 – Elisa Serna, 75, Spanish protest singer-songwriter, heart attack.
 * September 17 – Laudir de Oliveira, 77, Brazilian percussionist (Sérgio Mendes, Marcos Valle, Chicago) and producer.
 * October 8 – Coriún Aharonián, 77, Uruguayan electroacoustic music composer and musicologist
 * October 17 – Elías Lopés, 72, Puerto Rican trumpet musician
 * October 30 – Daniel Viglietti, 78, Uruguayan folk singer, guitarist, composer and political activist.
 * November 2 – María Martha Serra Lima, 72, Argentine ballad and bolero singer
 * November 17 – Blanquito Man, 47, Venezuelan singer
 * November 28 – Magín Díaz, 94, Colombian folk singer and songwriter, Latin Grammy winner (2017)
 * December 4 – Carles Santos, 77, Spanish pianist and composer.
 * December 23 – Chino Gonazalez, Argentine singer and member of La Nueva Luna