The first number-one song on the chart was "Quien Eres Tu" by Luis Enrique.
[1] Originally, rankings on the chart were determined by the amount of airplay a song received on radio stations that primarily played tropical music, namely music originating from the Spanish-speaking areas of the Caribbean such as salsa, merengue, bachata, cumbia, vallenato, and tropical fusions.
Any song, regardless of its genre, was eligible for the chart if it received enough airplay from the panel of tropical music radio stations being monitored.
[2] Audience impressions are based on not only how often a song is played as monitored by Nielsen BDS but the ratings of the monitored stations at such time the songs are being played as measured by Nielsen Audio.
The current number-one song on the chart is "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" by Karol G.[4] In 2017, Billboard magazine compiled a ranking of the 20 best-performing songs on the chart since its inception in 1994.