The popularization of bossa nova and Herb Alpert's Mexican-influenced sounds in the 1960s did little to change the perceived image of Latin music.

[29] The RIAA initiated the "Los Premios de Oro y Platino" ("The Gold and Platinum Awards" in Spanish) in 2000 to certify sales of Latin music albums and singles under a different threshold than its standard certifications.

At the height of the mambo movement in 1955, Pérez hit number one on the American charts with a cha-cha-chá version of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White".

[citation needed] The Brazilian bossa nova became widespread in Latin America and later became an international trend, led especially by Antônio Carlos Jobim.

[38] Rock en español became popular with the younger generation of Latinos in Latin America,[39] for example the Argentine band Almendra.

Fania Records was credited for popularizing salsa music, with acts such as Rubén Blades, Héctor Lavoe, and Celia Cruz expanding the audience.

Ramiro Burr of Billboard remarked that the contest was considered to be the "largest and most prestigious songwriting festival in the Latin music world".

[50] On January 10, 1990, EMI Latin bought Bob Grever's Cara Records, beginning the golden age of Tejano music.

[50] Mario Tarradell of The Dallas Morning News wrote that the singles from Amor Prohibido elevated Selena to success on Latin radio whose promoters had not previously taken the singer seriously.

[67] Gloria and her husband Emilio Estefan are considered to have "open[ed] the door" to a number of artists throughout the 1990s decade.

[68][verification needed] Colombian pop rock singer Shakira released her international debut album Pies Descalzos (1995).

Critics found Vivir to be superior to Enrique's contemporaries and reportedly sold over five million copies in Asia, Europe, and South and Central America within a week of its release, the first Latin album to do so.

[73] In 1998, music and ticket sales of Martin grossed $106 million, which was the equivalent of the total exports of Puerto Rico to Mexico in 1996.

[77] Lopez entered the music market following a string of films and released her debut recording On the 6 (1999), which she described as a Latin soul album.

Mexican singer Luis Miguel was credited for the renewed interest with the success of his album, Romance (1991), a collection of classics covered by the artist.

[79] Around the same time, artists from Italy such as Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, and Nek successfully crossed over to the Latin music field by recording Spanish-language versions of their songs.

[81] In the mid-2000s, reggaeton became popular in the mainstream market, with Héctor el Father Tego Calderón, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Wisin & Yandel considered to be the frontiers of the genre.

[86] Latin trap gained mainstream attention in the mid-2010s with artists such as Ozuna, Bad Bunny, and Anuel AA.

Bad Bunny made use of his enormous platform to draw attention to problems like the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

His song "El Apagón" brought attention to the island's ongoing power outages and financial difficulties while discussing Puerto Rico's energy provider, LUMA.

[90] In 2017, a song named, "Despacito" by Justin Bieber, Luis Fonsi, and Daddy Yankee had 4.5 billion views on YouTube.

[90] The technological advancements have allowed streaming services to flourish that offer a wide variety of music without having to pay for each individual song/album.

[95] This has some experts questioning whether less popular Latin genres will become more niche in the future as record labels focus on products in industries with a greater concentration of money.

[95] Numerous computer science and music experts have reported a common error on streaming services such as Spotify.

[96][97][98][99] In addition, due to the fact that Spanish-language also includes music from Spain, artists from that country are labelled as "Latin".