It seems Romeo Santos has found the formula for success in his new aventura as a solo artist…
The former Aventura frontman’s debut album has posted the biggest first sales week of any Latin album in four years.
The 30-year-old Dominican-American singer’s “Formula, Vol. 1” bowed at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 chart, with Nielsen SoundScan reporting the album sold 62,000 copies.
It’s the largest first-week sales posting for a Latin album since June 23, 2007, when Daddy Yankee’s “El Cartel: the Big Boss” sold 82,000.
In addition to a landing in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, “Formula” is the new No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Albums chart.
“Formula Vol. 1” features 15 songs in English and Spanish, including the hit “Promise,” Santos’ bilingual duet with Usher that reached No. 1 on the Latin Songs chart well before before they performed the song at last week’s Latin Grammys.
It seems Santos—who recently signed on to star in an ABC sitcom—is successfully transitioning to a solo career after a decade with his multiplatinum-selling bachata group.
“In a lot of ways, it’s a continuation of what I was doing in the group, where I was spending 20 hours in the studio on a song,” Santos told the New York Daily News. “I am still making the same decisions, but I get very nostalgic when I’m on stage without them, and I have to remind myself, okay, it’s Romeo, not Aventura.”
Santos is currently on the road promoting the album throughout the country.