Hot Latin Songs

The chart was established by the magazine on September 6, 1986, and was originally based on airplay on Latin music radio stations.

During the late 1980s, musical data was compiled by the Billboard magazine-affiliated chart and research department, with information from 70 Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and Puerto Rico.

[4] According to the Billboard electronic database, the first number one song on the Hot Latin 50 was "La Guirnalda", by Spanish singer Rocío Dúrcal, on September 6, 1986.

[5] However, in the listings included in the first printed publication of the chart, on October 4, 1986, the first number-one song was "Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó", by Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel.

[7][8][9][10][11] Due to the increasing popularity of downloads sales and streaming data, Billboard updated the methodology for the Hot Latin Songs chart on October 11, 2012, to include digital sales and streaming activity in addition to airplay, as well as making only predominantly Spanish-language songs eligible for inclusion and increasing airplay data to more than 1,200 radio stations across the United States.

These are: The tracking week for sales and streaming begins on Friday and ends on Thursday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Monday to Sunday.

In addition, Billboard imposed a linguistic requirement; a song must be predominantly sung in Spanish to be eligible to rank on the chart.