Top 4: Puerto Ricans | Top 40 News

In recent years, several Puerto Rican artists have made it to the Top 40. Today we can add Bad Bunny, who debuted in the Top 40 with “Mia,” to that list. In this top four you will learn about the most successful artists from Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is an island located in the Caribbean Sea between the Dominican Republic and the Virgin Islands. The territory is actually part of the United States. Many Puerto Ricans move to the United States because they have more career options there. This also applies to musicians.

The first Puerto Rican in the top 40 was Sean Elliott. He scored a Top 3 hit in the fall of 1965 with Shame and Scandal in the Family!!! More than five years later, the record for the most Puerto Rican Top 40 hit was set by blind singer-songwriter José Feliciano, who had his biggest hit in 1971 with Che Sara. Sean Elliott and José Feliciano were born in Puerto Rico, but moved at an early age to Spanish Harlem, a New York neighborhood where many Puerto Ricans and other Latinos live.

For more than 28 years, José has held the title of Puerto Rican's most successful Top 40 player. He was only forced to cede it to Ricky Martin in 1999. Unlike his predecessors, he actually grew up in Puerto Rico. In 1984, when he was 12 years old, he became a member of the popular Puerto Rican teen group Menudo. By the time he achieved international success in 1997 with the single “Mariah”, he was now living in the United States. For a long time it seemed like Ricky Martin's performance was unbeatable, but thanks to the popularity of reggaeton, Puerto Rican artists have been performing better than ever in recent years.

This led to Daddy Yankee being able to take over the record set by Ricky Martin the previous summer. He made it with his No. 2 hit Dura, but he made his biggest contribution with his mega-hit Despacito in 2017. He sang this song with Luis Fonsi, who was also born in Puerto Rico. Luis also scored the second hit after Despacito, but Échame La Culpa did not guarantee that he would be able to surpass Ricky Martin's score. However, with one more shot, he could easily edge out Ricky Martin and Daddy Yankee for the title.

Number 4 doesn't really belong on this list. Nicky Jam was born in the American city of Boston, but moved to his father's country when he was a ten-year-old boy. Even Puerto Rico. He released his first album there in 1994 when he was 13 years old. His international breakthrough took some time. That only came in 2015 with the No. 1 hit El Perdón. This made him the first Puerto Rican to have a No. 1 in the Dutch Top 40 to his name.

1- Daddy Yankee 1736 points

2 Ricky Martin 1640 points

3- Luis Fonsi, 1584 points

4- Nicky Jam 1143 points

(Photo: BSR Agency)

(04/11/2018)