El Fantasma Lands Fifth No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay With ‘Vida Cara’

El Fantasma captures his fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Regional Mexican Airplay chart as “La Vida Cara” crowns the list dated Sept. 9. The single checks into the penthouse after a 13% gain in audience impressions, to 6.8 million, earned in the U.S. during the Aug. 25-31 tracking week, according to Luminate.

‘La Vida Cara” ascends 4-1 in its ninth week and unseats Carin León’s “Indispensable” from its three-week domination; the song dips 1-2.

El Fantasma scores his fifth No. 1 after coming short on his last appearance. Previously, “El Selectivo” reached No. 2 in April, where it held for three weeks. Prior, “Soldado Caído” lifted 3-1 in Oct. 2022.

With his fifth champ, El Fantasma becomes the sixth male artist with as many No. 1s on Regional Mexican Airplay since the list launched in 1994. Christian Nodal beats the race with 15. Here’s the recap:

15, Christian Nodal
12, Gerardo Ortiz
8, Marco Antonio Solis
7, Vicente Fernández
6, Alejandro Fernández
5, El Fantasma

Notably, as “Vida Cara” lands at No. 1, collaborators Salvador Hurtado and Indalfer Ochoa, who share writing credits, achieve their first champ on any Latin radio list. Hurtado previously landed in the runner-up slot when La Fiera De Ojinaga’s “900 Cigarros” peaked at No. 2 on the Aug. 26-dated list.

Beyond its Regional Mexican Airplay coronation, “Vida” gifts El Fantasma his ninth top 10 on the overall Latin Airplay chart as the song climbs 15-5.

Maluma’s ‘Don Juan’ debuts in the top 10: Elsewhere on Latin charts, Maluma picks up his sixth top 10 on Latin Rhythm Albums as Don Juan opens at No. 5 with 8,000 equivalent album units earned in week ending Aug. 31.

The 24-track Don Juan was released Aug. 25 via Sony Music Latin. Of the 8,000-unit week, 7,000 derives from streaming activity, equal to 10.3 million official on-demand audio and video streams for the album’s songs in its first week.

With Don Juan, Maluma logs his sixth top 10 effort on Latin Rhythm Albums out of seven chart entries. Before the No. 12-peaking The Love & Sex Tapes set in June 2022, his previous five releases all reached top 10, and three out of those topped the list – 2015 Pretty Boy, Dirty Boy earned the Colombian his first chart appearance and maiden No. 1, while F.A.M.E. (2018) and 11:11 (2019), both debuted at the summit and ruled for one week, respectively.

Don Juan was preceded by four songs on the multi-metric Hot Latin Songs chart, starting with “Sobrio,” which peaked at No. 11 in Oct. 2021. Meanwhile, three others debuted in 2023: “La Fórmula,” with Marc Anthony, “Diablo, Que Chimba,” with Anuel AA, and “Coco Loco,” all debuted and peaked at No. 33, No. 45, and No. 41 in Feb., April, and June, respectively.

Further, Don Juan debuts at No. 11 on Top Latin Albums, Maluma’s best chart performance since Papi Juancho debuted and peaked at No. 2 in 2020.