Barrio Fino was instrumental in popularizing reggaeton in the mainstream market, enhancing Daddy Yankee's career, as well as cementing his status as one of the most successful Latin artists of the 2000s.

[vague] Barrio Fino was ranked number 44 in the "Top 50 Records of 2005" list by Rolling Stone and was included in Billboard's "50 Greatest Latin Albums of the Past 50 Years" in 2015.

[12] At the age of 17, while taking a break from a recording session, Ayala was shot in the leg after being caught inadvertently in the middle of a shootout, ending his aspirations of becoming a professional baseball player.

[14] Later that year, he was featured on Dominican duo Luny Tunes' debut studio album, Mas Flow, on the track "Cógela Que Van Sin Jockey",[15] whose outro included Daddy Yankee promoting Barrio Fino.

The intro, performed by ex-convict poet Gavilán, is a poetic piece focusing on the humble side of Puerto Rico's poor neighborhoods or barrios.

[19] On the next track, "King Daddy", the rapper describes his career and predicts how Barrio Fino will revolutionize reggaeton music and validate his stage name as a successful Latin artist in the United States.

[7] Before the release of Barrio Fino, Daddy Yankee shared an apartment with his wife and three children in the Villa Kennedy housing project, where he occasionally heard people in the streets shouting "¡Cómo le gusta la gasolina!"

[19] Musically, it is a fusion of reggaeton and rhythm and blues, featuring backing vocals by May-Be and Raymond Acosta and guitars by Puerto Rican producer Arnaldo "Naldo" Santos.

[19] "Tu Príncipe" is a romantic track that features Puerto Rican duo Zion & Lennox, with lyrics describing the dilemmas of falling in love with a best friend and the fears following a revelation of one's feelings.

[19] Latin music journalist Ramiro Burr wrote that on this track, Daddy Yankee reflected on his neighborhood questioning "society's endless pursuit of material things.

[19] "Golpe de Estado" is a personal song featuring novice rapper Tommy Viera whose lyrics are about Daddy Yankee's, and Barrio Fino's role in the reggaeton music movement.

He hired Elastic People music video director and designer Carlos Perez, who wanted to "position him as one of the founders of the movement and portray him on a sophisticated note.

"[7] Daddy Yankee suggested a "monumental" black-and-white cover inspired from historical photographs involving American professional boxer and activist Muhammad Ali.

[53][54][55] As of October 2017[update], the record has sold 1,083,000 copies in the United States, making it the seventh best-selling Latin album in the country according to Nielsen SoundScan.

[58] The bonus track version was re-released for digital stores and streaming platforms on July 21, 2017, under El Cartel Records and The Orchard, celebrating the album's 13th anniversary.

[65][66] Leila Cobo of Billboard stated that it could not pass its number 17 peak on the Hot Latin Songs chart because of the lack of urban music played on US Spanish-language radio stations at the time.

"[77] Jason Birchmeier of AllMusic gave the album a 4.5 out of 5 score, praising its first half as "remarkably solid" but commenting that its final quarter "begins to grow tiresome" because of the record's length.

He states that Daddy Yankee "deserves a lot of credit for the success of Barrio Fino, for his charisma, energy level, and command of the proceedings are well evident and often infectious."

[82] Rolling Stone magazine's Christian Hoard gave it a 3.5 out of 5, stating that Barrio Fino is "the blingiest and most modern disc in current reggaeton" and highlighted the track "Gasolina" for its "slinky hook.

The magazine praised the album for its "elegant and fabulous rhythms" and ended the review by adding that "Barrio Fino is an agitated excursion to reggaeton's most rough pleasures.

"[85] Adam Webb of the BBC stated in his review that Daddy Yankee's "sheer energy" is where he "reigns supreme over the majority of his hip hop peers.

He said that "Gasolina" is "the engine driving this collection," describing the song as a basic reggae beat with a catchy chorus, and highlighted the dance tracks "No Me Dejes Solo" and "Like You".

"[87] An editor of the Indian music magazine The Record wrote a mixed review of Barrio Fino, stating that anyone who is not intimidated by the Spanish language barrier "will find this to be a good album," praising his "strong rhyming skills."

[107] The success of the album brought wealth to Daddy Yankee, who became the "messiah of reggaeton" according to Billboard, and inked a multi-year deal with the global athletic footwear company Reebok, launching a signature sport collection called DY in 2006.

[7][54][55] According to Billboard magazine, the commercial success of Barrio Fino "introduced Daddy Yankee to the mainstream market and made reggaeton an international [music] genre.

[32] That same year, "Gasolina" was ranked ninth on Billboard's 50 Greatest Latin Songs of All Time, described as "the track that internationalized reggaeton" by making the genre a global phenomenon.

[21] Billboard included Daddy Yankee on its list of "The 30 Most Influential Latin Artists of All Time", citing "Gasolina" as the song that "brought the underground urban sound of the [Puerto Rican hoods] to the world.

[115] The commercial success of "Gasolina" in the country led to the creation of a new radio format and a Billboard chart, Latin Rhythm Airplay,[7] in which Daddy Yankee eventually became the artist with the most total entries.

[19] According to Leila Cobo of Billboard, the success of Barrio Fino "detonated a global reggaeton explosion that irrevocably altered the business, sound and aesthetic of Latin music.

"[119] In 2019, he celebrated the 15th anniversary of the album by posting on social media that it "changed the culture around the world, broke frontiers, and opened the doors for reggaeton music and the [urban movement] around the globe".