Fuerza Regida Sweeps Billboard Latin Music Awards

The Billboard Latin Music Awards belonged to Fuerza Regida on Thursday night in Miami, with the Mexican group walking away with eight trophies and a special career honor. The ceremony at the James L. Knight Center also gave Bad Bunny, Karol G and Rosalía major moments, even when two of the biggest names were not in the room.

Fuerza Regida takes the night

According to Billboard, Fuerza Regida led all artists with eight awards, including Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year for a duo or group, Regional Mexican Artist of the Year for a duo or group, and Regional Mexican Song of the Year. The group also picked up the Billboard Vanguard Award, which recognizes a career built on innovation and an unconventional creative vision.

Four of those trophies came from a single track. "Marlboro Rojo" won Hot Latin Song of the Year, Streaming Song of the Year, Global 200 Latin Song of the Year and Regional Mexican Song of the Year. That spread is the real flex, because it shows one song winning inside its genre and across the whole Latin market at the same time.

Band leader Jesús Ortiz Paz, known as JOP, said that the Vanguard Award represents a ten-year journey of hard work, and that the group plans to keep going until it conquers the world. Miami New Times reported that he also video-called his parents from the stage, a small family moment in the middle of a very big night.

Bad Bunny and Karol G win without showing up

Bad Bunny followed with seven awards even though he was not present, according to Billboard. He took Artist of the Year, Tour of the Year and Global 200 Latin Artist of the Year, plus Songwriter of the Year and the male artist honors on both the songs and albums charts. His label, Rimas, also won several label awards.

Karol G also skipped the ceremony and still collected four trophies. As reported by ColombiaOne, she won the brand-new Fan Favorite Artist award, which is the first category in the show's history decided by a public vote. She beat Peso Pluma, Tito Double P, Fuerza Regida and Prince Royce to take it.

Her other wins were Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Female, Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Female, and Latin Pop Song of the Year for "Coleccionando Heridas" with Marco Antonio Solís. She arrived with nine nominations and left matching the four-trophy hauls of Peso Pluma and Romeo Santos.

Rosalía enters the Hall of Fame

Rosalía was in attendance and received the Billboard Hall of Fame Award from Juan Luis Guerra. In her speech she said she could not be an artist without the people who came before her, naming Celia Cruz, Rocío Dúrcal, Vicente Fernández, Daddy Yankee and Guerra himself, and she thanked Latin America for years of inspiration.

She also won Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Solo, and Top Latin Pop Album of the Year for her record LUX, finishing with three awards in total. According to Miami New Times, she even borrowed a famous line from the Spanish-language TV show Caso Cerrado, which fit the Miami crowd perfectly.

Música mexicana keeps climbing

The biggest storyline might be the sound that dominated the results. Peso Pluma entered with the most nominations, seventeen, and finished with four wins, including Top Latin Album of the Year for DINASTÍA with Tito Double P, who collected three awards of his own. Together with Fuerza Regida, Mexican regional music took a huge share of the biggest categories.

Miami New Times argued that anyone still calling the success of música mexicana a passing moment will find it harder to sell after these results. Pop, reggaeton and tropical music still had space too, with Romeo Santos and Prince Royce winning for "Lokita Por Mí" and Wisin and Yandel taking a Latin rhythm award.

Legends, tributes and a few glitches

The show also honored older generations. Rubén Blades received the Icon Award and Cristian Castro accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award, then performed with Ha*Ash. A Juan Gabriel tribute, ten years after his death, brought together Carlos Rivera, Pablo Alborán, Jessi Uribe, Paola Jara and Yahritza y Su Esencia.

Not everything went smoothly. Miami New Times noted that technical issues interrupted the viewing experience on Peacock, though the broadcast on Telemundo mostly carried on. The ceremony was hosted by Carmen Villalobos and Javier Poza and handed out awards across forty-seven categories.

For Gen Z listeners, the takeaway is simple: the Billboard Latin Music Awards just confirmed that the charts, the streams and the fans are all pointing the same direction. Regional Mexican acts are now headliners in the global conversation, and the new fan-voted trophy shows that your streams and votes can now shape who gets crowned. Catch up on more in our music coverage.