Latin Pop Airplay is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks the top-performing songs (regardless of genre or language) on Latin pop radio stations in the United States, based on weekly airplay data compiled by Nielsen's Broadcast Data Systems (BDS). It is a subchart of Hot Latin Songs, which lists the best-performing Spanish-language songs in the country. In 1998, 15 songs topped the chart, in 50 issues of the magazine. Due to damage to the BDS monitors in Puerto Rico caused by Hurricane Georges, the Latin Pop Airplay chart, along with the other Latin song charts, was not published in the issues dated October 10 and October 17. 1998 was named "The Year of the Romantic Songs" by El Nuevo Herald due to the popularity of ballads.

The first number one of the year was "En El Jardín" by Alejandro Fernández and Gloria Estefan, which had been in the top spot since the chart dated December 13, 1997. It remained in the top position for five more weeks until it was displaced by Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On", the theme song from the 1997 film Titanic. "My Heart Will Go On" is the second English-language song to top the chart after "I Could Fall in Love" by Selena in 1995. "No Sé Olvidar" by Fernández held this position for eight weeks and tied with Carlos Ponce's debut single "Rezo" for the longest run at number one. Ponce had established himself as a soap opera actor before becoming a musical artist.

Ricky Martin obtained his first chart-topper with his ballad "Vuelve" which was named the best-performing song of the year despite the track only having spent three weeks at number one. Martin was the first artist in the chart's history to replace himself at number one when "Perdido Sin Ti" succeeded "Vuelve". Fernández, Ponce, Martin, and Estefan were the only acts to have more than one chart-topper in 1998, with the latter being the only female artist to achieve this. Alejandro Sanz also gained his first number one with "Amiga Mía" while "Te Quiero Tanto, Tanto" by OV7, which was recorded as the theme song for the Mexican telenovela Mi pequeña traviesa (1997), remains the group's only chart-topper. Chayanne had the final number one of the year with "Dejaría Todo".

Chart history

Key

†	Indicates number 1 on Billboard's year-end Latin pop chart

Chart history

Issue date	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
January 3	"En El Jardín"	Alejandro Fernández featuring Gloria Estefan
January 10
January 17
January 24
January 31
February 7	"My Heart Will Go On"	Celine Dion
February 14
February 21
February 28	"Vuelve" †	Ricky Martin
March 7
March 14	"My Heart Will Go On"	Celine Dion
March 21	"No Sé Olvidar"	Alejandro Fernández
March 28	"Cómo Dueles en los Labios"	Maná
April 4	"No Sé Olvidar"	Alejandro Fernández
April 11
April 18
April 25
May 2
May 9
May 16
May 23	"Huele a Peligro"	Myriam Hernández
May 30
June 6	"Amiga Mía"	Alejandro Sanz
June 13
June 20	"Corazón Prohibido"	Gloria Estefan
June 27	"Rezo"	Carlos Ponce
July 4
July 11
July 18
July 25
August 1
August 8
August 15
August 22	"Te Quiero Tanto, Tanto"	OV7
August 29
September 5	"Vuelve" †	Ricky Martin
September 12	"Perdido Sin Ti"
September 19
September 26	"Decir Adiós"	Carlos Ponce
October 3
October 10	No charts published
October 17
October 24	"Esperanza"	Enrique Iglesias
October 31
November 7
November 14
November 21	"Ciega, Sordomuda"	Shakira
November 28
December 5
December 12	"Dejaría Todo"	Chayanne
December 19
December 26

See also

• 1998 in Latin music