Over the past five years, regional Mexican music has once again caught fire within our industry, thanks to a new generation of Mexican and Mexican American hitmakers who’ve taken the historic genre into the future. Artists like Peso Pluma, Grupo Frontera, Natanael Cano and Fuerza Regida have struck the perfect balance between honoring tradition and embracing the decades-old genre’s experimental essence, catapulting música mexicana to global popularity.
But those artists didn’t reach the summit on their own. Far from it. They may be the new generation and the face of the genre today, but the foundations of regional Mexican – an umbrella term comprising banda, corridos, norteño, sierreño, mariachi and more subgenres – lead back decades, to pioneering greats like Pedro Infante, Vicente Fernández, Lucha Villa, Antonio Aguilar, Chalino Sánchez and Los Tigres del Norte.
Latin’s growth in the first six months of the year has been largely fueled by regional Mexican music – the subgenre with the second highest growth rate in terms of volume, behind only alt rock – according to Luminate’s midyear report. So, given regional Mexican music’s ever-growing popularity today, it’s only fitting that we give you our staff’s picks for the 75 Best Regional Mexican Acts of All Time, saluting the pioneers for laying the groundwork while acknowledging some of those that represent the eclectic new class.
For this list, Billboard staffers agreed on the following criteria: vocal prowess, body of work, career longevity, industry achievements, Billboard chart accomplishments, game-changing influence and enduring generational/cultural impact. While it was taken into consideration, songwriting was not a major deciding factor. Furthermore, música mexicana is comprised by legendary singers, but groups and bands are a major part of the genre’s narrative and fabric, which is why we decided to include those bands who’ve made and continue to make strides in the genre. (Editor’s note: Artists from the subgenre son jarocho were not included, for the purpose of tightening the list.)
We ask that you keep in mind that this is a carefully curated, thoughtfully assembled list – believe us when we say this has been a back-and-forth, months-long discussion, with heated conversations. And we understand you may or may not agree with the names included or left out, or the positioning of those included. However, we firmly believe every name on this list is deserving of the honor. We look forward to hearing our readers’ feedback, and to the cultural discussions this list will ignite. At the end of the day, this is all about celebrating regional Mexican music: the genre’s past, present and future.
Another thing: You’ll notice that many from the new generation of música mexicana artists are not included in this big list. As we said above, longevity and a sizable body of work matter in this particular selection. Rest assured, we’re working on a separate list for members of the new generation, who we think will eventually join the ranks of GOATs.
Coinciding with Hispanic Heritage Month, and launching on Mexican Independence Day, below find Nos. 75-61 on the list. Billboard will be unveiling a new round every week until the final 15.
