Look, if you came here expecting a simple answer, buckle up because who is the most popular singer in South America is about to become the most complicated question you’ve asked all week. The South American music industry is currently a telenovela on steroids with its twists of the plots, surprising returns, and drama to keep us at the edges of our seats until 2026 and probably beyond.
Here’s the tea: when we talk about who is the most popular singer in South America, we are in fact plunging into a revolution in music that is making an overhaul of the whole world industry. South American musicians no longer simply make noise; they literally are taking over the charts of Spotify, setting the records of the Billboard, and are making the entire planet go to their beat. And honestly? It’s about time.
The Colombian Queens Who Changed Everything
Let’s get real for a second. When someone asks who is the most popular singer in South America, two immediate Colombian power that come to mind are Shakira and Karol G. These ladies are not singers, they are rather cultural figures who have effectively rewritten the script of what it is to be a Latin artist in the 2020s.
The Barranquista-born superstar, Shakira, has recently been named the most influential female Latin Pop artist of all time by the Billboard. Of all time, yes–you see that. She is the mother of modern Latin pop with more than 125 million records sold and 400 awards gathering dust in her shelves. Her 2025 album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran earned her another Grammy in Best Latin Pop Album and her world tour grossed more than 2.5 million tickets around the Americas. At this stage, it would be like calling her a successful person a bit wet.
But this is where it comes interesting. Karol G, a fellow Colombian artist, has received the title of the most streamed female Latin artist in the world in six years in a row. SIX YEARS. Her album (Spanish) Mananaserafabonito became the first Spanish-language album by a female to top the billboard 200. She is not simply playing in reggaeton with boys; she is literally winning the race among the majority of them. She has 56 million monthly listeners on Spotify as we enter 2026, which means that female artists in South America are not just players in the game but conquerors.
But Wait, There’s a Puerto Rican Problem
Now here’s where answering who is the most popular singer in South America gets tricky. Bad Bunny is the first act to get crowned on the list of all-time most-streamed artists in the world in 2025 with an astounding 19.8 billion streams. His album DeBà TiRAR MáS FoTos made it to the top of all the charts possible. He is leaving history on his left and right, becoming the first artist in the history of Spotify to take your number one position four times.
However, here is the twist of the plot that will cause tears to geography teachers across the country: Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican. It is not South America but rather the Caribbean which is located in Puerto Rico. Technically, when we are strictly speaking about who is the most popular singer in South America from actual South American countries, Bad Bunny doesn’t make the cut. Wild, right? The man who has taken over the Latin music is not even part of the continent we are talking about.
This actually in itself, uncovers something intriguing about Latin music in 2026. The genre has been so hugely networked that it appears nearly insignificant to attempt to distinguish artists by their precisely geographic location. Mexican musicians are joining hands with Columbian, Puerto Ricans are joining hands with Argentinians and the entire Latin music environment is literally a big and beautiful musical melting pot.
The Future Is Speaking Spanish
As we look toward 2026 and beyond, the question of who is the most popular singer in South America becomes less about one person and more about an entire movement. Latin music is no longer a fad that is simply swinging its way in the world of music but it has simply been altering the entire music industry on a global scale. The four highest ranked Latin artists in the world in 2025 were all artists of Música Mexicana and it was the first time ever that two Latino artists made the Spotify Global Top Artists list.
At the age of 47 years, Shakira still records, (ow, sink in that), and Karol G at the age of 33 is only beginning to hit the tide. In the meantime, Colombia has a new generation of artists such as Susana Cala, who began her career by writing songs on behalf of other artists but is now starting her own bedroom pop career, proving that the pipeline of South American talent is not in any way empty. Sebastian Yatra continues to release hits, Manuel Turizo continues to experiment with bachata to reggaeton, and J Balvin with his 65.8 million monthly listeners is one of the main builders of reggaeton.
The Data Doesn’t Lie
We should speak about numbers since they are insane. The number of music streams of Colombian artists has grown more than 200 percent since 2018, with the majority of music streams originating in the countries of international listeners. The gung-ho of this frenzy is teens and young adults between the age of 18 to 24 and they are not merely listening but are obsessed. They are placing Latin artists on repeat, making their songs go viral, and, in general, dictating what the entire world hears.
The song “TQG” featuring Karol G in collaboration with Shakira had accumulated more than a billion views on YouTube. In 2023, Shakira’s BZRP Music Sessions #53 with Bizarrap broke 14 Guinness World Records and was the most-streamed Latin song in 24 hours on both Spotify and YouTube. They are not only amazing statistics, they are evidence that artists in South America are playing on an entirely new level.
What 2026 Holds
So when someone asks me who is the most popular singer in South America heading into 2026, my answer is: it depends on your metric. Speaking of pure streaming numbers and world presence among artists who are literally South American, Shakira and Karol G are carrying the flag of Colombia. They both have demonstrated that they can not only compete with the rest of the world, but they can even control the discussion.
The legacy left by Shakira is unreachable- she is the prototype, the icon, the girl who managed to make South American girls prove that they can take over the world speaking different languages. Karol G is the future- she is proving that you do not have to sing in English in order to be on the top of the American charts and she is giving a generation of female Latin musicians a reason to think bigger.
But the real answer? South America does not have just one singer who is the most popular. It’s a movement. It is all the Colombian musicians busting down the doors, all the Argentine cuarteto singers having their time, all the Brazilian artists with their funk and pop mix, all the Chilean indie bands finding their fans. The Latin music is enjoying its time and South American musicians are the focal point of it all.
In 2026, the music industry will be Latino, it will look Latino, and it will flow Latino. It is no longer a question of Shakira selling out stadiums at 47, Karol G making history with Spanish-language albums, or new artists like Delilah and Joaquina getting their time at the top, South America is no longer a spectator in the music world, but a worldwide musical player.
And honestly? We are all just lucky enough to be here on the ride.
