As Bad Bunny smashes Apple Music records, his manager Noah Assad says Latin Music will ‘keep growing’

There’s “no stopping” Latin Music. The words of Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad, manager of independent Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, speaking to MBW.

Assad’s comments come a month after MBW predicted that the recorded music market for Latin artists in the United States would generate more than $1 billion in revenue across the 12 months of 2022.

Today, we can reveal further proof of the Latin music sector’s stratospheric rise.

Latin music just scored its biggest ever week by streams worldwide on Apple Music, for the week ending Friday, May 13, thanks to the release of two blockbuster albums, one from Bad Bunny and one from Música Mexicana star Eslabon Armado.

In the same week (to Thurs, May 12), the wider Latin genre achieved its highest ever weekly streaming total in the US (across all platforms) of 1.82 billion on-demand audio (ODA) streams, according to Luminate data.

That 1.82 billion ODA total was enough to leapfrog Latin music above Country music as the US’s fourth-biggest streaming genre (behind hip-hop, rock and pop).

With 328 million first week ODA streams, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti was responsible for nearly 1 in 5 (~18%) of all Latin genre streams that took place in the US during the chart week in question (ending May 12).

Now, speaking with MBW, Rimas Entertainment CEO Noah Assad says he predicts Latin music will “keep on growing”.

He adds simply: “There’s no stopping it, you know? There’s no stopping it.”

In the week ending May 13, Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny’s fourth studio album, broke the record for the highest first-week streams worldwide for a Latin album in Apple Music history.

The artist also broke the first-week streaming record for a Latin song on Apple Music worldwide with Moscow Mule.

Eslabon Armado’s NOSTALGIA, meanwhile,  broke the first-week streaming record worldwide for a Música Mexicana album.

On Friday May 6, Latin Music accounted for 31 of the songs on Apple Music’s global Daily Top 100, a record for the genre. The previous record was 21 Latin songs, upon the release of Bad Bunny’s YHLQMDLG.

(Bad Bunny logged 22 songs on Apple‘s global Daily Top 100 on May 6, breaking the record for most entries by a single Latin artist.)

Latin music’s global explosion – and of course Bad Bunny’s global success – obviously hasn’t been an isolated Apple Music event.

Spotify has already confirmed that on Friday, May 6, Bad Bunny became the all-time most-streamed artist globally on its platform in a single day, racking up 183 million streams within 24 hours.

Bad Bunny was also named as the most-streamed artist in the world on Spotify for the second year in a row in 2021, achieving that feat without even releasing an album last year.

Rimas Entertainment is a self-described independent “music powerhouse” that encompasses a label and artist management.

It was launched by Assad in 2014, and in addition to Bad Bunny, Rimas’ roster includes streaming superstars like Jowell & Randy, Arcángel, Eladio Carrión and more.

Bad Bunny signed with Assad’s Rimas in 2016, and in 2020, Rimas released three of his albums – YHLQMDLG, LAS QUE NO IBAN A SALIR, and EL ÚLTIMO TOUR DEL MUNDO – the latter of which became the first all Spanish album to hit No.1 on Billboard’s Top 200.

Assad tells MBW that “everything we did with Rimas was out of love and out of passion for music, never thinking about how big it could get”.

He adds: “While we were just so busy working, and so involved, and so invested into what we love to do, we are now realizing everything amazing that’s been happening around us.”

“Everything we did with Rimas was out of love and out of passion for music, never thinking about how big it could get.”

Noah Assad, Rimas Entertainment

Rimas Entertainment’s distribution for all of Bad Bunny’s albums has been handled by The Orchard. Rimas also struck a new global deal with The Orchard in June 2021 covering its catalog material and new projects.

Speaking to MBW,  The Orchard’s CEO, Brad Navin, says: “Rimas and The Orchard’s partnership is about constantly rethinking music release strategies with the fan always top of mind, as well as emphasizing that boundaries no longer exist and great music transcends language.”

He adds: “Latin music has always been a varied and strong segment of the industry, with genres gaining traction outside Spanish speaking markets. Now, Bad Bunny is leading mainstream global culture, through authenticity, connectivity and his incredible talent.”

“Bad Bunny is leading mainstream global culture, through authenticity, connectivity and his incredible talent.”

Brad Navin, The Orchard

According to Apple Music, streams for Latin have more than doubled on its platform over the past three years.

Musica Mexicana, in particular, has been one of the fastest-growing genres on Apple Music worldwide, growing over 150% over the past three years.

Apple Music says that plays for many Latin editorial playlists, meanwhile, have seen triple-digit growth in the past year, including Por Siempre Hits and Puro Pop, up 229% and 127% respectively.

Speaking to MBW about Bad Bunny’s success on Apple Music specifically, manager Noah Assad says that, “Apple’s been very invested into his career since day one”.

He adds: “They always double, [even] triple down on him. [Apple] always understanding him has been very important. As well as understanding his creativity, and understanding his art ethic, [they understand] when he has something on his mind.

“[Apple] always help him achieve what he has in mind and it’s always a cross collaboration with them. We’re very happy with the partnership and we hope to be [partners for] many years to come.”

According to Apple Music, several other Latin music records have been broken on its platform this year.

In March, for example, Rosalía broke the record for the biggest first week worldwide for a female Latin album with her third studio album, MOTOMAMI.

In February, Becky G. and KAROL G broke the record for the biggest first week worldwide for an all-female Latin collaboration with their song MAMIII.

In March, Yahritza Y Su Esencia broke the record for the biggest first-week streams worldwide for a Música Mexicana song with Soy El Unico.  It was also the biggest debut single in the genre’s history, and the biggest first week for a female Música Mexicana single.

In April, Yahritza Y Su Esencia broke the record for the most first-week streams worldwide for a debut Música Mexicana EP, with the 5-track Obsessed EP.Music Business Worldwide