J Balvin was named to TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2020 on Tuesday night, affirming the rise of reggaeton and Latin music in the U.S.
The Colombian star, also known as the “Prince of Reggaeton,” sits at the top of the list of most influential artists with industry giants like Selena Gomez and The Weeknd.
J Balvin, born José Álaro Osorio Balvín, has paved the way for the future generation of Latin artists by, according to Camila Cabello who penned a tribute to Balvin for the upcoming TIME100 issue, “making the world hear and fall in love with our culture, our sound, our spirit.”
Since 2014, Balvin has been delivering hit after hit with his singles like “6AM”, “Ginza”, and “Mi Gente” helping him amass 35 million singles sold worldwide and over 25 billion career streams. Balvin has remained in the Top 5 most streamed artists on Spotify since 2018 and was the first Latin artist to reach 1 billion streams on Apple Music.
In the last few years, Balvin has brought his Latin style to groundbreaking collaborations “I Like It” with Cardi B and Bad Bunny, “RITMO” with the Black Eyed Peas, and most recently “UN DIA (ONE DAY)” with Dua Lipa and Bad Bunny. He has also taken on some of the biggest stages in popular music performing at the 2019 Grammy’s with Camila Cabello and the 2020 Superbowl Halftime Show with Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, and Bad Bunny.
Not only has he brought reggaeton back into the mainstream, but he has used his platform to bring light to the importance of mental health. Camila Cabello writes in his tribute:
“I saw his posts on Instagram talking about his struggle with anxiety and mental health, and I remember bursting out crying because I no longer felt alone, amazed that someone who was achieving such incredible things was still vulnerable and brave enough to share that with the world.”
J Balvin’s influence has transcended the Latin community as his goal remains to “keep paving the way for the new generation in reggaeton and Latin music.”
