'I Always Knew It!': Bad Bunny Reacts to Billboard No. 1 Album Debut

By Dana Cruz First Posted: Dec 10, 2020 12:05 AM EST

(Photo : Victor Chavez/Getty Images for Spotify) Bad Bunny performs onstage during the 2020 Spotify Awards at the Auditorio Nacional on March 05, 2020 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Bad Bunny's El último Tour Del Mundo became the first all-Spanish offering to top the Billboard 200 album chart, and the singer was left speechless at the historic milestone.

Bad Bunny's win was a first in the 64-year-old all-genre chart.

To express his glee, the artist posted on Instagram a childhood throwback photo of himself singing on-stage along with screenshots of the Billboard success.

"I dreamt it!!! I felt it!!! I always knew it!!!" the Spanish caption translated.

A report from Billboard said Bad Bunny's album earned 116,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending December 3, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data.

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Some 12,000 of these came from album sales and around 103,000 came from SEA units, which equates to nearly 146 million on-demand streams.

According to New York Times, this was the Puerto Rican singer's first No. 1, with his last album "YHLQMDLG," stalling second in March. It sold about 179,000 equivalent album units.

According to Complex, YHLQMDLG became the highest-charting all-Spanish album of ever at the time. At the time, it set records for the biggest streaming week for a Latin album and the biggest week for a Latin title since December 2014.

Billboard Weighs in on Bad Bunny's Success

Several Billboard writers gave their own opinions on Bad Bunny's No. 1 album.

"It's not even a real new peak for Bad Bunny, let alone all of Latin pop," Andrew Unterberger said.

He pointed out that YHLQMDLG actually had better numbers during its first week but just so happened to debut on a week as Lil Baby's My Turn.

His colleague, Griselda Flores, believes it was a significant accomplishment for Latin artists.

"The idea that Spanish music sells, that people and the industry are embracing Spanish-language music, that cultural significance is major," she said.

For Flores, the record lets Latino artists know that they "belong" and that language doesn't hinder a No. 1 win.

Jason Lipshutz, on the other hand, believes that even though the historic milestone was a long time coming, it doesn't make it any less significant.

El último Tour Del Mundo The Fourth of Its Kind on Billboard

The 16-set album is the fourth all-Spanish album to reach the top five in Billboard's 200 chart.

Streaming services helped in popularizing most of Bad Bunny's songs.

Last week, Spotify announced that he was their most streamed act of the year 2020 so far, with over eight billion clicks to his songs.

There had also been two 'almost's for an all-Spanish album to take the top spot before.

Il Divo's "Ancora" (2006) and Selena's "Dreaming of You" (1995) were two album mostly in Spanish that had taken the top spot before. So far, only Bad Bunny has managed to reach No. 1 with an album entirely with Spanish lyrics.

On other categories, Bad Bunny was also named Top Latin Artist and Top Latin Male Artist of 2020, as he did last year. The former top spot holder was BTS's "Be", which now sits No. 3 in its second week on the chart.