In October 1994, Billboard magazine established Tropical Airplay, a chart that ranks the top-performing songs played on tropical 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. According to an 1985 article by Billboard, tropical music is the "sound of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean – though it extends beyond it". It usually encompasses dance genres such as salsa, merengue, bachata, vallenato, and the Colombian cumbia and tropical music in Mexico. Five songs topped the chart in 1994 and 12 tracks did the same in 1995. Until November 5, 1994, BDS ran test charts which only listed the number one song of the week on Billboard's electronic database.

The first song to reach number one on the Tropical Airplay chart was "Quién Eres Tú" by Luis Enrique which remained in the top spot for three weeks. It was replaced by La India's cover of "Nunca Voy a Olvidarte", making her the first female artist to reach the top of the chart. Both artists were the only acts to have more than one chart-topper in 1994. La India had the final number one song of the year with her rendition of "Ese Hombre" which was also the first at the start of 1995. La India and Gloria Estefan were the only female acts to reach number one in 1995.

Marc Anthony was the artist with the most songs at number one in 1995 with "Te Conozco Bien", "Se Me Sigue Olvidando", and "Nadie Como Ella". "Te Conozco Bien" held this position for the longest with eight weeks and was named the best-performing tropical song of the year by Billboard. Marc Anthony also had the final chart-topper of the year with "Nadie Como Ella". Cuban pianist Paquito Hechavarría collaborated with fellow Cuban artist Rey Ruiz on the track "Piano" for the 1995 album of the same name (although Ruiz was not credited for this release on Billboard's chart database) and spent six weeks on top of the chart. Ruiz himself achieved his first number one with "Estamos Solos". Edgar Joel and Johnny Rivera obtained their only chart-toppers in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

Chart history

Key

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

Chart history

Issue date	Title	Artist(s)	Ref.
October 8, 1994	"Quién Eres Tú"	Luis Enrique
October 15, 1994
October 22, 1994
October 29, 1994	"Nunca Voy a Olvidarte"	La India
November 5, 1994
November 12, 1994	"En las Nubes"	Edgar Joel
November 19, 1994	"Así es la Vida"	Luis Enrique
November 26, 1994
December 3, 1994
December 10, 1994
December 17, 1994
December 24, 1994
December 31, 1994	"Ese Hombre"	La India
January 7, 1995
January 14, 1995
January 21, 1995
January 28, 1995
February 4, 1995	"Mirándote"	Frankie Ruiz
February 11, 1995
February 18, 1995
February 25, 1995	"Piano"	Paquito Hechavarría
March 4, 1995
March 11, 1995
March 18, 1995
March 25, 1995
April 1, 1995
April 8, 1995	"Se Parecía Tanto a Ti"	Johnny Rivera
April 15, 1995
April 22, 1995
April 29, 1995
May 6, 1995
May 13, 1995	"Estamos Solos"	Rey Ruiz
May 20, 1995
May 27, 1995
June 3, 1995
June 10, 1995
June 17, 1995	"Te Conozco Bien" †	Marc Anthony
June 24, 1995
July 1, 1995
July 8, 1995
July 15, 1995
July 22, 1995
July 29, 1995
August 5, 1995
August 12, 1995	"Esperándote"	Tito Rojas
August 19, 1995
August 26, 1995
September 2, 1995
September 9, 1995	"Se Me Sigue Olvidando"	Marc Anthony
September 16, 1995
September 23, 1995
September 30, 1995
October 7, 1995
October 14, 1995
October 21, 1995	"Abriendo Puertas"	Gloria Estefan
October 28, 1995
November 4, 1995
November 11, 1995	"Si Una Vez"	Manny Manuel
November 18, 1995	"Abriendo Puertas"	Gloria Estefan
November 25, 1995
December 2, 1995	"Si Tú Superias"	Giro
December 9, 1995
December 16, 1995
December 23, 1995	"Nadie Como Ella"	Marc Anthony
December 30, 1995

See also

• 1994 in Latin music
• 1995 in Latin music