In June 1985, Billboard magazine established Latin Pop Albums, a chart that ranks the best-selling Latin pop albums in the United States. The chart was published on a fortnightly basis with its positions being compiled by sales data from Latin music retailers and distributors. According to Billboard, Latin pop includes "the music known as the balada romántica or música interacional" as well as "young pop sounds" and "the new Spanish-language rock". Latin pop emerged as the most commercially successful genre of Latin music throughout the 1980s and 1990s in the US, and the popularity of the balada was propelled by artists such as Julio Iglesias, Camilo Sesto, and Gloria Estefan (lead singer of the Miami Sound Machine at the time). During the 1980s, 22 albums topped the chart.

The first album to reach number one on the Latin Pop Album chart was Reflexiones (1984) by José José. José José was also the artist with the most number-one albums of the 1980s with Promesas (1985), Siempre Contigo (1986), and Soy Así (1987). The three records were the best-selling Latin pop albums of 1986–88, respectively. Promesas was the longest-running number one with 17 weeks. The Miami Sound Machine was the only band to reach number one in the 1980s with their album Primitive Love (1985). Primitive Love spawned the crossover single, "Conga", which peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Iglesias and Emmanuel were the only other artists to have more than two chart-toppers. Iglesias, who has been recognized as the best-selling male Latin artist of all-time by the Guinness World Records, spent a total of 29 weeks at the apex of the chart with his albums Libra (1985), Un Hombre Solo (1987), and Raíces (1989). Five female acts reached number one on the chart during the 1980s: Ángela Carrasco, Ana Gabriel, Rocío Jurado, Yolandita Monge, and Isabel Pantoja. Pantoja had the best-selling Latin pop album of 1989 with Desde Andalucía (1988) and won the Lo Nuestro Award for Pop Album of the Year in the same year. Gabriel culminated the decade with Tierra de Nadie (1988). Recognized as her breakthrough album, it won the Pop Album of the Year award at the following Lo Nuestro Awards.

Chart history

See also

• 1980s in Latin music
• List of Billboard Regional Mexican Albums number ones from the 1980s
• List of Billboard Tropical Albums number ones from the 1980s