Bar chart comparing total certified copies sold of best-selling Latin albums, showing Santana's "Supernatural" as the top seller | Sources: Wikipedia, Latinometrics

Carlos Santana, the legendary Mexican guitarist from Jalisco, has recorded many global hits in his lifetime. But did you know that he (alongside his band) produced the best-selling Latin album of all time? Released in 1999, “Supernatural” had sales just short of 20M worldwide, placing it above Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ and The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.’

Remarkably, Puerto Rican Ricky Martin appears twice in the historical Top 10 chart. Part of his success and upbringing is credited to Cuban producer Emilio Estefan, husband of Gloria Estefan (also on the chart). Emilio paved the way for many Latino artists in the 90s, including Jennifer Lopez, whose album ‘On the 6’ sits at #3.

Since the music industry has changed a lot in the last decade with the rise of streaming, it’s unlikely that we will ever see this ranking change. Few people buy albums anymore, and artists have focused more on releasing hit singles instead of hit albums. Today, Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart has Bad Bunny’s ‘YHLQMDLG’ at #1 , which stands for “Yo hago lo que me de la gana,” translating to “I do whatever I want”. Bad Bunny has also been Billboard’s Latin artist of the year for three years in a row.