2022 Was Bad Bunny’s Best Year: What’s next?

Bad Bunny is undoubtedly the man of the year. Thanks to his music, he has topped every chart and has earned an unimaginable amount of money, and, —as if that wasn’t enough— he has also confronted gender stereotypes and displayed his Puerto Rican and Latino origins to the rest of the world.

BAD BUNNY’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS 2022

On Spotify alone Bad Bunny has had over 18.5 billion streams in 2022, which landed him the title of the platform’s top artist for the third year in a row and making him the first and only artist ever to do so. His album “Un Verano Sin Ti” has become the most-streamed album globally for 2022, with the single “Titi Me Preguntó” taking the third spot for the most-streamed song in the whole world, and the first latin song as well.

On the Billboard year-end charts, the song came in 22nd place of the Hot 100 Songs of the year, right after “Me Porto Bonito,” which hit the 20th spot. However, those pale in comparison to his overall success. He became the top artist, along with the album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” to top the Billboard 200 Albums, the first ever in a non-English language to do so. The album spent 13 weeks at the top spot, tying with Drake’s Views and the Frozen soundtrack for the record with the most weeks at No. 1 in the past decade. He was also named Apple Music’s Artist of the Year.

Not to be outdone when it comes to concerts and touring, Bad Bunny was also the top-grossing artist of the year, raking in $373.5 million in ticket sales, according to Boxscore, even before starting his tour in Latin America. The “World Hottest Tour,” which included shows in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Perú, Paraguay and Panama, among others, brought in $435.2 million.

BENITO’S CONTRIBUTION TO LATINOS

Bad Bunny has helped push Spanish-language music to achieve more recognition and popularity worldwide. On Spotify, the number of Reggaeton streams grew 147% from 2018-2020, while trap Latino streams grew 187%. Moreover, over the past 90 days, 95 million listeners played one of his tracks for the first time, with 51% of those streams occurring outside of Spanish-speaking markets.

Not only has he helped Latino music spread around the world, but he has also used his popularity to send strong, socially-conscious messages. Bad Bunny’s last music video, “El Apagón” (The Blackout) is the perfect example of an artist who hasn’t forgotten his roots and shows a deep commitment to his home country of Puerto Rico. In said video, he interrupts the music to present a documentary to talk about two explosions and blackouts that had affected thousands of Puerto Ricans this year.

BAD BUNNY’S UNIQUE STYLE AND OUTFITS

The singer has also chosen to express himself with his looks. His unique, non-binary style can best be described by the phrase- which just so happens to also be the title of one of his albums- YHLQMDLG (“Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana” / “I Do What I Want”), and shows that his personal preferences and the ways he chooses to express himself are not bound by gender.

He started the year by attending the 2022 Met Gala with a Burberry suit dress which made quite a statement and then, for the Icons Issue of fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar, he chose to sport a white outfit, formal shirt and a skirt. On stage, he bounces between overalls, oversize clothes, huge sunglasses and a skirt, making it very clear that stereotypes don’t define him.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR EL CONEJO MALO?

With the Grammys just around the corner, Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” became the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year. In his career, he has received two Grammys, four Latin Grammys and eight Billboard Music Awards. After debuting as an actor in “Narcos: Mexico” and “Bullet Train,” next to Brad Pitt, the singer has announced that he will take a break in 2023.

“2023 is for me, for my physical health, for my emotional health, to breathe, to enjoy the achievements. Let’s celebrate. Let’s go here, let’s go there. Let’s go to the boat. Let’s go to the water. 2023 It’s for me.” — Bad Bunny explained.