Mexican singer Peso Pluma performs in live performance on the Foro Sol in Mexico Metropolis, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.

Aurea Del Rosario/AP

conceal caption

toggle caption

Aurea Del Rosario/AP

Mexican singer Peso Pluma performs in live performance on the Foro Sol in Mexico Metropolis, Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023.

Aurea Del Rosario/AP

Peso Pluma is YouTube’s most considered artist of the yr within the U.S.

The Mexican music phenom beat out Taylor Swift, Drake, YoungBoy By no means Broke Once more and Unhealthy Bunny for the primary spot.

Globally, Peso Pluma racked up greater than 8.5 billion views on YouTube in 2023.

The YouTube chart put YoungBoy By no means Broke Once more in second place, and Drake, Unhealthy Bunny and Taylor Swift at numbers three, 4 and 5 respectively.

The 24-year-old’s hit tune “Ella Baila Sola” with the California-based band Eslabón Armado ranked third on the platform’s U.S. Prime 10 songs of the yr.

The tune initially went viral on TikTok after which went on to change into the primary regional Mexican observe to make the Prime 10 within the Billboard Scorching 100’s whole 65-year historical past.

“I really feel humble and grateful that my music has made it to the highest spot on YouTube,” Peso Pluma stated in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter.

Born Hassan Emilio Kabande Laija in Jalisco, Pluma grew up in Guadalajara. He dreamt of changing into a soccer star as a boy. He began taking part in the guitar at 15 by watching YouTube movies and was captivated with hip-hop and reggaeton music. He aimed to change into a rapper.

However, as detailed in a latest story from NPR, “he rapidly realized his voice — concurrently gravelly and nasal — wasn’t suited to these types of music. So he joined the brand new wave of Mexican Gen Zers who’ve returned to the normal nation music of their dad and mom and grandparents, placing their very own spin on norteñas, corridos and cumbia.”

The artist rose to worldwide stardom this yr. He received and was nominated for a lot of awards, together with the Billboard Latin Music Awards’ Songwriter of the Yr.

His third album, Génesis, is within the working for finest Música Mexicana album on the upcoming Grammys in February.

In an episode of Alt.Latino devoted to the rise of regional Mexican music earlier this yr, NPR’s Felix Contreras and Anamaria Artemisa Sayre mentioned the massive recognition amongst mainstream U.S. audiences of Peso Pluma and different younger Mexican artists.

“I really feel as if this music represents being Mexican-American, wanting to like your Mexican self and struggling to indicate that,” stated Sayre. “Everybody finds one thing to like inside this music. And I believe it is as a result of we have by no means been so seen on this nation like we’re proper now.”