List of best-selling Latin albums



Latin music has an ambiguous meaning in the music industry due to differing definitions of the term "Latin". For example, the Latin music market in the United States defines Latin music as any release that is mostly sung in Spanish, regardless of genre or artist nationality, by industry organizations including the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and Billboard. International organizations and trade groups such as the Latin Recording Academy include Portuguese-language music in the Latin category.

Music journalists and musicologists define Latin music as musical styles from Spanish-speaking areas of Latin America and from Spain. Music from Brazil is usually included in the genre and music from Portugal is occasionally included.

As a result of the conflicting views of defining Latin music, the list includes Latin albums defined either by language for vocal albums or genre for instrumental albums. Therefore, for an album to appear on the list, the figure must have been published by a reliable source, the album must have sold at least 2 million copies with at least 600,000 certified units (the equivalent of a Latin diamond certification by the RIAA) and must either a) have at least 51% of its content in Spanish or Portuguese or b) is a Latin instrumental album (or any of its subgenres). This information cannot be listed officially, as there is no organization that has recorded global Latin music sales. This list can contain any types of album, including studio albums, extended plays, greatest hits, compilations, various artists, soundtracks and remixes. The figures given do not take into account the resale of used albums. For albums recorded in multiple languages, only the Spanish/Portuguese version(s) will be counted towards the certified sales.

Certified copies are sourced either from available online databases of local music industry associations or a country with an established certifying authority (see List of music recording certifications). Online certifications in Latin America are not extensive and only date back to a certain time period. For example, the Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (AMPROFON), the certifying authority in Mexico, only has certifications dating back to 1999 on its online database. Certifications from countries without online databases may be used if it has a certifying authority. In the case of sales of Latin albums in the US, primarily those released before the 1990s, certifications were awarded by the artists own record label rather than the RIAA with a lower threshold, a practice that was widely criticized by Latin label executives due to sales not being audited by an outside party. In a 1989 article for Billboard, Carlos Agudelo cited the insularity of the Latin music market in the US for the lack of reliable sales numbers reported to the RIAA. Therefore, only certifications listed on the RIAA database may be used for US certifications.

With estimated sales of 12 million copies worldwide, Spanish singer Julio Iglesias's Momentos (1982) is highest-selling Latin album on the list. Mexican singer Luis Miguel currently has the highest number of albums on the list with 14, while Colombian songstress Shakira has the most by a female artist with four.

Best-selling Latin albums
*All sales figures are shown in millions