Chencho Corleone Earns First No. 1 in a Lead Role on a Billboard Radio Chart with “Desesperados” with Rauw Alejandro

Chencho Corleone has earned a special first…

The 43-year-old Puerto Rican singer, composer and actor has earned his first No. 1 in a lead role on a Billboard radio chart as “Desesperados,” with Rauw Alejandro, tops the Latin Airplay chart dated July 2.

Chencho Corleone“Desesperados,” promoted to radio through Duars/Sony Music Latin, rises 4-1 it its 14th week thanks to a 22% boost in audience impressions, to 10.6 million, earned in the U.S. in the week ending June 26, according to Luminate.

The track displaces another Sony Music Latin title from the lead: Prince Royce and Maria Becerra’s “Te Espero,” sending it to No. 5 after its one-week reign.

While Corleone claims his best performance among three Latin Airplay entries, Rauw clocks his ninth No. 1, all earned within a two-year period, dating back to “TBT,” with Sebastian Yatra and Manuel Turizo, in July 2020.

The surge in “Desesperados” impressions gives the song its corresponding lift on Latin Rhythm Airplay, which measures the most-heard Latin rhythmic songs also through audience impressions metrics. There, the song jumps 2-1 in its 15th week.

The move also secures Corleone his first leader in a lead role on Latin Rhythm Airplay and second overall. His maiden champ arrived almost eight years ago, through his featured role in Tito El Bambino’s five-week ruler “A Que No Te Atreves” in September 2014. As the song held atop the survey in its third week, it concurrently topped Tropical Airplay for one week (October 2014).

Corleone’s chart rewards continue across Latin charts. His first collaboration with compatriot Bad Bunny has sustained his Hot Latin Songs domination for a seven-week run (and counting): “Me Porto Bonito” leads the all-metric tally (a blend of airplay, streaming activity, and digital sales) thanks to 22.7 million official streams, up 5%, in the week ending June 23.

While “Me Porto” holds strong at No. 1 on Latin Streaming Songs, it’s the only Spanish-language track in the top 10 on the overall Streaming Songs survey, at No. 6, among a collection of five Drake debuts and four other English-language songs.

In addition to its streaming count, “Me Porto” traces its Hot Latin Songs domination to 1,000 downloads sold. The song remains at No. 2 on Latin Digital Song Sales for a second week.

Rauw Alejandro Earns First No. 1 on Any Billboard Chart with “Vice Versa”

Rauw Alejandro is celebrating a big first

The 28-year-old Puerto Rican rapper, singer and composer has notched his first No. 1 on any Billboard albums chart as Vice Versa, his sophomore effort, debuts atop the Top Latin Albums chart dated July 10.

Rauw Alejandro

Vice Versa was released on June 25 via Duars/Sony Music Latin. It starts with 21,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending July 1, according to MRC Data.

His debut set, Afrodisiaco, debuted at No. 30 and eventually peaked at No. 10 on the 50-deep tally.

Vice Versa, like everything I do, was created from the heart,” Rauw Alejandro tells Billboard. “The main difference is that I was willing to take more chances and experiment more than when I did Afrodisíaco, which was a lot more traditional.”

The Top Latin Albums chart ranks the most popular Latin albums of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.

Nearly all of Vice Versa’s starting sum is powered by streaming activity. The album registered 20,000 SEA units, which equals 29.1 million on-demand streams of the album’s tracks. Album sales and TEA units comprise less than 1,000 units combined.

Vice Versa bends Rauw Alejandro’s usual reggaetón structure by integrating synth-pop, drum’n’bass and dance rhythms to the 14-track set produced by Mr. NaisGai, Tainy and Caleb Calloway; the project also features artists Anitta and Lyanno.

“There were two challenging parts to making this album,” Rauw Alejandro adds. “Being able to separate the artist from myself and the second one was deciding which track was going to be the first single. I wanted every track to be the first single.”

Vice Versa was preceded by two singles on Hot Latin Songs: the No. 3 high “Todo De Ti” (June 12-dated tally) and “2/Catorce,” with Mr. NaisGai (which reaches a new peak of No. 11 on the current chart). Concurrently, two other tracks debut on the airplay-, streaming- and digital sales-blended list: “Sexo Virtual” at No. 20 and “Aquel NapZzZz” at No. 48.

“Todo De Ti” also sees progress on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, pushing 36-32.

Over on the Billboard 200Vice Versa arrives at No. 17, marking the Puerto Rican’s highest-charting entry there.