DECEMBER 20, 1997

Artists & Music THE Billboard Latin 5OS000dScan C ompiled from a national sample of retail store and rack sales reports collected, compiled, and provided by mini Y r x s L 3 n 3 3 ó ARTIST IMPRINT & NUMBER /DISTRIBUTING LABEL TITLE sale of every Latino title in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. * * * No. 1 * * * But the January- November tally does offer solid indi- 1 1 11 ALEJANDRO FERNANDEZ SONY DISCOS 82446 SONY ® 2 weeks at No. I ME ESTOY ENAMORANDO cation that the música en español arena is hardly boom- ing. 2 2 5 MARC ANTHONY RMM 82156 CONTRA LA CORRIENTE Reasons from industry insiders for the downturn are 3 3 18 LUIS MIGUEL WEA LATINA 19798 ROMANCES Notas 4 4 9 MANA WEA LATINA 20430 SUENOS LIQUIDOS numerous and plausible. Among them are fewer Anglo TM retail outlets than before; competition from other 5 6 11 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CWB WORLD CIRCUIT/NONESUCH 79478/AG® BUENA VISTA SOCIALCWB entertainment vehicles, such as computer -related gear; 8 25 CHARLIE ZAA SONOLUX 82136/SONY ® SENTIMIENTOS by John Lannert © and an overabundance of product being released to a 7 5 10 CRISTIAN ARIOLA 52205/BMG LO MEJOR DE MI consumer base that is not rapidly expanding, if at all. 8 7 7 GRUPO LIMITE POLYGRAM LATINO 539331 ® SENTIMIENTO AN EARLY HOLIDAY, POR FAVOR: According to the One reason not offered for the sales downtick is the ANA GABRIEL SONY DISCOS /SONY Recording Industry Assn. of America's midyear fig- sales drop of catalog product. Proof is in the statistics. O9 10 6 82563 CON UN MISMO CORAZON ures (Billboard, Aug. 30), the U.S. Hispanic market is The market for hit product actually has remained 10 9 17 GIPSY KINGS NONESUCH /ATLANTIC 79466/AG COMPAS chugging upward at almost a 25% clip. steady. From December 1996 to December 1997, 4.8 11 13 45 ENRIQUE IGLESIAS FONO`»YAPool VIVIR However, SoundScan's sales data is painting a much million units were sold for titles appearing on The Bill- GREATEST GAINER different portrait, at least for the first 11 months of board Latin 50, only 4% lower than the 5 million pieces * * * * * * 1997. moved in the corresponding period one year earlier. 12 33 2 LOS TUCANES DE TIJUANA i A, , r, , , s.. -. DE FIESTA CON... According to SoundScan, the domestic Latino mar- Thus, the bulk of the overall sales drop must be due to 13 14 9 MARCO ANTONIO SOLIS FONOVISA 0514 MARCO

ket tallied 11.6 million units from January through the decline in catalog . 14 11 13 INDIA RMM 82157 CE1 SOBRE EL FUEGO

November. Compare that number with the 15 million Evidently, consumers of Latino product are termi- 15 19 27 VICTOR MANUELLE SONY DISCOS 82334/SONY A PESAR DE TODO pieces that SoundScan reported were sold in the entire nating their conversions from other formats to CDs. 16 12 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS HOUSE OF MUSIC 82590 /SONY THE NOISE VOL.8 -THE REAL NOISE year of 1996 (Billboard, March 15), and it immediately The 4% decrease in charted titles in 1997 follows a 17 18 55 JULIO IGLESIAS COLUMBIA 67899/SONY TANGO becomes evident that there's a dire need for a spectac- year when sales in the U.S. Latino market were up 11 %, ular holiday season. thanks to and out -of- the -box debut albums by 18 17 4 PEDRO FERNANDEZ POLYGRAM LATINO 539222 CANTA A JOSE ALFREDO JIMENEZ Indeed, Latino executives nowadays likely are recit- Fonovisa's Enrique Iglesias and Sony Discos' 19 15 5 GRUPO MANIA SONY DISCOS 82438/SONY ALTO HONOR ing a line resembling a chorus once warbled by Alvin songstress Shakira. 20 16 26 LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE FONOVISA 80711 ® JEFE DE JEFES and his chipmunk buddies: "Christmas, don't be late." That sales scenario was not repeated in 1997, 21 25 32 OLGA TANON wes LATINA 18733 im LLEVAME CONTIGO

That is because holiday sales make up 25% to 30% of although several notables reached lofty new sales Cji 27 11 BOYZ II MEN MOTOWN 530823/POLYGRAM LATINO EVOLUCION

the annual statistics in most markets. But given that plateaus, including WEA Latina's Luis Miguel and 23 21 23 THALIA EMI LATIN 57977 AMOR A LA MEXICANA percentage, the U.S. Hispanic market would need to Maná, RMM's India and Marc Anthony, Sony Discos' 24 28 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS J &N 82379/SONY MERENHITS 98 more than triple in December its monthly January - Alejandro Fernández (now reinvented as a pop throb), November sales average of 1.05 million units. PolyGram Latino's Grupo Límite, EMI Latin's Los 25 23 33 LOS TUCANES DE TIJUANA EMI LATIN 56921 as TUCANES DE ORO That is asking a lot, especially since there are no new Tucanes De Tijuana, and Fonovisa's Los Tigres Del 26 24 5 EROS RAMAZZOTTI DOD 53047/8MG EROS blockbuster titles by crossover Latino artists in the Norte. 27 22 60 GRUPO LIMITE POLYGRAM LATINO 533302 ® PARTIENDOME EL ALMA market on par with, say, Selena's 1995 set "Dreaming Happily, the aggregate numbers by the aforemen- 28 20 11 BOBBY PULIDO EMI LATIN 57522 LLEGASTE A MI VIDA Of You" (EMI /EMI Latin) or Julio Iglesias' 1996 tioned acts nearly filled the gap left by the diminish- 29 26 13 CARLOS VIVES EMI LATIN 59452 TENGO FE

"Tango" (Columbia /Sony). ing presence at Latino retail of Selena and two other 30 42 7 BANDA EL LIMON FONOVISA 4016 ME CAISTE DEL CIELO It can be argued that SoundScan is not tabulating the (Continued on next page) 31 38 48 SELENA FMI LATIN 53585 SIEMPRE SELENA * * * HOT SHOT DEBUT * * * 32 NEW JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ SONY DISCOS 82635/SONY INOLVIDABLE

33 32 22 VICENTE FERNANDEZ SONY DISCOS 82356 SONY ESTATUA DE MARFIL

34 45 6 GISSELLE RCA 52734/BMG QUIERO ESTAR CONTIGO

35 41 45 FEY SONY DISCOS 82059/SONY TIERNA LA NOCHE

Parrandon ARIOLA 36 37 32 /ROCIO DURCAL 47895/8MG CíE1 JUNTOS OTRA VEZ MAXIMA 31 36 11 DLG SONY DISCOS 82340/SONY SWING ON 38 29 10 DOMINGO QUINONES RMM 82219 SE NECESITA UN MILAGRO

39 40 2 SHAKIRA SONY DISCOS 82512/SONY THE REMIXES POTENG/A Boricua 40 34 92 SHAKIRA SONY DISCOS 81795/SONY ® PIES DESCALZOS 41 31 6 CRISTIAN UNIVERSAL LATINO 40092 MIS MEJORES MOMENTOS 42 30 25 INTOCABLE EMI LATIN 56694 ® IV 43 43 11 JERRY RIVERA SONY DISCOS 82435/SONY YA NO SOY EL NINO AQUEL ® RE -ENTRY LOS ANGELES AZULES DISA 53791/EMI LATIN INOLVIDABLES CI RE -ENTRY LA MAKINA JAN 82492/SONY LOS REYES DEL RITMO

46 48 11 LOS MISMOS EMI LATIN 33230 GRACIAS POR TODO

47 47 5 CHICHI PERALTA + SON FAMILIA CAIMAN 2881 PA' OTRO LAO

48 RE -ENTRY TONO ROSARIO WEA LATINA 19530 SEGUIRE

ICI RE -ENTRY BANDA EL RECODO FONOVISA 9580 DE PARRANDA CON LA BANDA

50 RE -ENTRY ALEJANDRO SANZ WEA LATINA 20281 MAS

POP TROPICAL /SALSA

1 ALEJANDRO FERNANDEZ 1 MARC ANTHONY RMM 1 GRUPO LIMITE -[RAM SONY DISCOS/SONY CONTRA LA CORRIENTE LATINO SENTIMIENTO ME ESTOY ENAMORANDO 2 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB 2 ANA GABRIEL sow oiscOS5oNY 2 LUIS MIGUEL WEA LATINA WORLD CIRCUIT/NONESUCH/AG CON UN MISMO CORAZON ROMANCES BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB 3 LOS TUCANES DE TIJUANA 3 MANA WEA LATINA 3 CHARLIE ZAA SONOLUX/SONY EMI LATIN DE FIESTA CON...

SUENOS LIQUIDOS SENTIMIENTOS 4 PEDRO FERNANDEZ POLY - 4 CRISTIAN ARIOLNBMG 4 INDIA RMM SOBRE EL FUEGO GRAM LATINO CANTA A JOSE LO MEJOR DE MI 5 VICTOR MANUELLE sONY DIS- ALFREDO JIMENEZ 5 GIPSY KINGS NONESUCH/ COS/SONY A PESAR DE TODO 5 LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE ATLANTIC /AG COMPAS 6 GRUPO MANIA SONY DIS- FONOVISA JEFE DE JEFES 6 ENRIQUE IGLESIAS FDNOVISAVMR COS/SONY ALTO HONOR 6 LOS TUCANES DE TIJUANA 7 MARCO ANTONIO SOLIS 7 OLGA TANON WEA LATINA EMI LATIN TUCANES DE ORO FONOVISA MARCO LLEVAME CONTIGO 7 GRUPO LIMITE POLYGRAM LATI- 8 VARIOUS ARTISTS HOUSE OF 8 VARIOUS ARTISTS J &N /SONY NO PARTIENDOME EL ALMA MUSIC/SONY THE NOISE MERENHITS '98 8 BOBBY PULIDO EMI LATIN VOL.8 -THE REAL NOISE 9 CARLOS VIVES EMI LATIN LLEGASTE A MI VIDA 9 JULIO IGLESIAS TENGO FE 9 BANDA EL LIMON FONOVISA COLUMBINSONY TANGO 10 GISSELLE RCA/BMG ME CAISTE DEL CIELO 10 BOYZ II MEN MOTOWN /POLY- QUIERO ESTAR CONTIGO 10 SELENA EMI LATIN GRAM LATINO EVOLUCION 11 DLG SONY DISCOS/SONY SWING ON SIEMPRE SELENA Member of 11 THALIA EMI LATIN 12 DOMINGO QUINONES RMM 11 VICE TEFERNANDE2SONYNS- 0=1F1 AMOR A LA MEXICANA SE NECESITA UN MILAGRO co85oNY ESTATUA DEMARFIL F EYES tECORDS INC. 12 EROS RAMAZZO7TI DDDBMG EROS 13 JERRY RIVERA sow DlsctSSONY 12 JUAN GABRIEL/ROCIO DURCAL 13 JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ SONY YA NO SOY EL NINO AQUEL ARIOLABMG JUNTOS OTRA VEZ DISCOS/SONY INOLVIDABLE 14 LA MAKINA J &N /SONY 13 INTOCABLE EMI LATIN IV CD'S - TAPES & MUSICAL VIDEOS 14 FEY SONY DISCOS/SONY LOS REYES DEL RITMO 14 LOS ANGELES AZULES TIERNA LA NOCHE 15 CHICHI PERALTA + SON DISA/EMI LATIN INOLVIDABLES 140 N.W. 22 Avenue, , Florida 33125 Tel.: (305) 541 -6686 / Fax: (305) 642 -2785 15 SHAKIRA SONY DISCOS/SONY FAMILIA CAIMAN 15 LOS MISMOS EMI LATIN THE REMIXES PA' OTRO LAO GRACIAS POR TODO E -MAIL reyesrecords @worldnet.att.net TODO EN MUSICA EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN MUSIC FULLY COMPUTERIZED Q Albums with the greatest sales gains this week. Recording Industry Assn. Of America (RIAA) certification for sales of 500,000 units. RIAA certification for sales of 1 million units, with multimillion sellers indicated by a numeral following the MAJOR CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED symbol. For boxed sets, and double albums with a running time that exceeds two hours, the RIAA multiplies shipments by the number of discs and /or tapes. Greatest Gainer shows chart's largest unit increase. RR indicates past and present Heatseeker titles. A 1997, Billboard /BPI Communications and SoundScan, Inc.

32 BILLBOARD DECEMBER 20, 1997 www.americanradiohistory.com