ÍøÆغÚÁÏ

Reggaeton and Latin trap artist Arcángel has a trademark cool yet expressive tenor singing voice, which contrasts with a certain melodic sweetness and gritty lyrics in Spanish and English. As a rapper, his smooth, slow delivery is grainy and expressive. Before going solo, he established his identity as a member of the duo Arcángel y De la Ghetto during the mid-2000s. Their hits, including "Agresivo" and "El Pistolón," established his reputation sufficiently to warrant a solo career. Arcángel is as well-known a collaborator as he is a solo artist, and among the most ubiquitous guests on reggaeton and Latin trap recordings. That said, his own recordings, including 2008's Top 100 entry El Fenómeno, are also successful. 2013's Sentimiento, Eleganza, & Maldad (SEM) was certified gold in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Two years later, the official release of his Los Favoritos mixtape with DJ Luian topped the Latin Album charts and was also certified gold. 2018's Ares delivered the hit "Original" (feat. Bad Bunny) on its way to a Top Five finish, while 2019 saw the release of no less than a dozen singles including the streaming hit "Traficante" (feat. King Goyi). Over the next few years, he built on his previous established platform with releases like Los Favoritos 2 (2020), Sr. Santos (2022), Sentimiento, Elegancia y Más Maldad (2023), and Papi Arca (2024).

Born Austin Santos on December 23, 1986, in New York City, Arcángel established himself in tandem with De la Ghetto and the song "Ven y Pegate" on the popular Hector el Father-hosted compilation album Sangre Nueva. Throughout 2005 and 2006, Arcángel y De la Ghetto were featured on a variety of reggaeton albums, including Luny Tunes' Mas Flow: Los Benjamins, and were associated with Baby Records, Zion's (of the duo Zion & Lennox) label. Arcángel announced that he was embarking on a solo career and starting a label of his own in December 2006.

Arcángel's solo releases began appearing sporadically. While "Chica Virtual," his guest feature on DJ Nelson's Flow la Discoteka, Vol. 2 (2007), was a minor hit, his full-length solo debut, La Maravilla, went unreleased after it was leaked to the internet in 2008. At the end of the year, Arcángel was able to release El Fenómeno. It was produced by some of reggaeton's top beatmakers including Luny Tunes, Mambo Kingz, Tainy, and Noriega. The album featured mostly new material, though it also included a handful of songs originally planned for La Maravilla. The lead single for El Fenómeno, "Por Amar a Ciegas," peaked inside the Top 40 at Latin Airplay and drove the album into the Top 20 on the Latin Albums chart. He also enlisted his mother to manage him and founded his own production company.

Despite the chart success, Arcángel didn't rush another recording. Instead, he toured Europe and released the mixtape The Problem Child in the spring of 2010. Upon his return from the road, he released a second mixtape, Optimus A.R.C.A., and began assembling tracks for a proper follow-up album. He also contributed a pair of tunes to the popular El Imperio Nazza compilation series.

Sophomore long-player Sentimiento, Elegancia y Maldad didn't appear until three years later. Its first single, "Hace Mucho Tiempo" (feat. Daddy Yankee and Baby Johnny), did well at radio and streaming before peaking at 13 on the Tropical Songs chart. The album, however, managed to hit the top spot on the Latin Albums chart. Over the next 18 months, Arcángel spent the majority of his time collaborating with and contributing to recordings by others, including a prestigious appearance on Maluma's smash hit Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy.

The notion of collaboration -- so important in reggaeton -- became the motivating factor behind 2015's now-classic mixtape, Los Favoritos. Enlisting DJ Luian as a co-billed conspirator, Arcángel set about recording tracks with his favorite genre artists from two generations, including J Balvin, Maluma, Nicky Jam, Ñejo Flow, Farruko, J Alvarez, and Wisin; there were 20 in all. The single "Tu Cuerpo Me Hace Bien" landed inside the Top Ten on the Latin Rhythm chart and topped the Tropical Songs list. The full-length spent 13 weeks in the Latin Top 40. Over the next three years, Arcángel focused his attention on frontloading singles and videos, among them, "Cula en la Clara" (featuring Tali), "Zum Zum," and "Original" (feat. Bad Bunny). They all charted. In 2018, he dropped the full-length Ares, which all but abandoned reggaeton and dembow rhythms in favor of trap beats and Latin pop. The set entered the Latin Albums chart at number five. In 2019, Arcángel released his next studio set, the deeply personal Historias de un Capricornio; it featured appearances from Bad Bunny and Ozuna, among others.

Over the next year, Arcángel issued a dozen singles and videos, including the charting remixes of "Sigues con El," (feat. Sech and Romeo Santos) and "Wow" (feat. Bryant Myers, Nicky Jam, Darrell, and El Alfa). Arcángel also revisited the mixtape concept explored on 2015's platinum-selling Los Favoritos with DJ Luian. Titled Los Favoritos 2, its 18 tracks included some 25 collaborations with male artists who included Rauw Alejandro, Ozuna, Wisin & Yandel, Maluma, and Farruko. There were only two solo appearances from Arcángel on the set: The opener "Payaso" and the title track "El Favorito." Issued in late October, Los Favoritos 2, debuted at the top of several charts, including Latin Albums. Pleased with the success of the formula, he kept the project going in 2021 with Los Favoritos 2.5, another guest-heavy project with nearly as many tracks as the previous volume. Among Arcángel's numerous 2022 singles were "JS4E" and the Bad Bunny-assisted hit "La Jumpa," both of which anchored his next album, Sr. Santos, released that December. A typically lengthy set, it featured guests like Myke Towers, Eladio Carrion, and YOVNGCHIMI and made a strong mainstream showing on the U.S. pop charts at number 37. 2023 was another prolific year for Arcángel. He released numerous tracks including "Kame Hame," the Jay Wheeler collaboration "TRAPPii," and "La Chamba" with Peso Pluma, the latter of which heralded his 2023 full-length, Sentimiento, Elegancia y Más Maldad. Anchored by other guest spots from Grupo Frontera, Quevedo, and Rauw Alejandro, the album cracked the top 10 of the Latin charts. A surprise EP, Papi Arca, arrived in December 2024 and featured the single "BFF" with Eladio Carrion. ~ Jason Birchmeier & Thom Jurek

Mexican singer, songwriter, and guitarist Peso Pluma is a major voice in the corridos tumbados (trap corridos) movement. His early albums, 2020's Ah y Que? and 2021's Efectos Secundarios, introduced fans to his songs, which are full of gritty romance and devastating tales of urban crime. He quickly scored a bevy of regional Mexican and Latin hits, including "Por Las Noches," "Siempre Pendientes" (with Luis R Conriquez), and "AMG" (with Natanael Cano and Gabito Ballesteros). However, it was with 2023's Grammy-winning Genesis that he truly broke through, topping the regional Mexican and Latin Albums charts and hitting the Top Ten of the Billboard 200. That same year, he also released "Ella Baila Sola," a Latin Grammy-nominated collaboration with Eslabon Armado that became one of his most streamed songs.

Born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija in 1999 in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico, Pluma became a guitarist just after he started school. His nom de musica translates as "featherweight" in Portuguese, a self-referential nickname referring to his tall, slim frame and reedy baritone singing voice. He began writing songs as a young teen and later posted videos to social media, building a large following of fans with music lovers and industry heavyweights alike. He debuted with several self-released albums, including 2020's Discos en Vivo (Vols. 1 & 2), 2020's Ah y Que?, and 2021's Efectos Secundarios. All these albums garnered Pluma buzz, especially for his songwriting style, which is rich in poetic metaphor, gritty romance, complex rhythms, humor, clever rhymes, and tales of urban crime, drug trafficking, and violence. In 2021 and 2022, he issued 14 singles on his own or in collaborations. He registered more than six million streams a month on various platforms and his videos garnered hundreds of millions of views.

While a handful of early singles registered on streaming charts, it was 2021's "Por Las Noches" that got well over a hundred million streams and became his first chart hit. In February 2022, "El Belicon," in collaboration with Raul Vega, topped it. He followed with the Sembrando EP in April and "Sentosa," a true rap corrido with Tornillo, Polo Gonzalez, and Garena Free Fire, in May. It became a West Coast hit. In August, "Siempre Pendientis," a duet with Luis R. Conriquez, racked up more than 300 million streams.

Although Pluma was criticized by the Mexican government and various media outlets for a live set at Mexico's 8 Music Fest that "glorified" drug trafficking and murder, his popularity never waned. He appeared on Conriquez's smash single "El Gavilan" alongside Tony Aquire. His star rose not only for his own compelling, provocative songs, but for his collaborations, too. In November he joined Jaziel Avilez and Codiciado on "Ando Enfocado." Later that month, he joined corrido tumbados inventor Natanael Cano and Gabito Ballesteros on the smash "AMG" that went to number three. His final single of the year was December's "Destiny" with Aleman, a doomy, spooky rap corrido.

Pluma kicked off 2023 in style with January's "PRC" with Cano, a scorching mariachi that wove together cumbia and trap rhythms. Upon its release, industry publications were in awe of Pluma, who had no less than five singles in the Mexican Regional streaming Top 40. He joined Junior H on the single "El Azul" in February and in early March was a featured duet partner with Ovy on the Drums on the psychedelic-tinged trap cumbia "El Hechizo." Pluma's third full-length, Genesis, arrived in January 2023 and featured "PRC," along with cuts like "Rosa Pastel" (with Jasiel Nuñez), "77" (with Eladio Carrión), "Bye," and "Lady Gaga" (with Gabito Ballesteros and Junior H). It reached number three on the Billboard 200 and topped both the Regional Mexican and Latin Albums charts. That April, he paired with Eslabon Armado on the song "Ella Baila Sola," which quickly became the first regional Mexican song to hit the Top Ten of the Hot 100. By the end of the year, the single had become one of his most streamed songs. Along with commercial success, Genesis picked up a Grammy for Best Música Mexicana Album, while "Ella Baila Sola" garnered Latin Grammy nominations for Song of the Year and Best Regional Mexican Song. He also scored several more regional Mexican hits including "Tulum" (with Grupo Frontera) and "Bipolar (with Jasiel Nuñez and Junior H). The two-disc ÉXODO arrived just a year later, featuring a 16-track selection of corridos and an eight-track disc of ventures into trap and reggaeton. ~ Thom Jurek