He gained his initial fame in 2001 as a third-place winner on Operación Triunfo,[1] the interactive musical reality television show that went on to achieve the highest audience ratings in the history of Spanish TV.

Bustamante has sold more than 2 million records—albums and singles combined—in Spain and Latin America, getting 15 Platinum in albums, digital downloads and mobile ringtones.

The album became a big seller, thanks in part to the singles "Además de ti", "El aire que me das" or "Dos hombres y un destino".

In 2004, Bustamante followed up his first album with his sophomore outing, Así soy yo (That's the way I am), which was – for the most part – produced by the well-known Emilio Estefan in Miami.

It was also in 2004 that Bustamante recorded the intoxicating theme song of "Gitanas", a superb, highly thought-provoking telenovela (Latin soap opera) that was filmed in Mexico and ran on the Telemundo network (NBC's contribution to Spanish-language programming) in the United States.

Caricias al alma was recorded in Italy and Spain and included the summer hit "Devuélveme la vida".

Bustamante's success continued with Pentimento (2006), Al Filo de la Irrealidad (2008) and A Contracorriente (2010) all reaching the top of the Spanish Album chart and going Platinum.

During the Christmas break, he presented Fuera de clase, a TV-show on La 1, the flagship television channel of Spanish public broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE).

The album reached number one in Spain and features guest vocals from Alejandro Fernández, Edith Márquez and Alicia Villareal.

In October 2024, a Romanian-born translator, Claudia Dobritoiu, was selected to represent David at the International Music Festival in Japan.