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Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee & Justin Bieber’s ‘Despacito’ Ties Historic Billboard Record With 16th Week At No. 1

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 22:20 PST, Aug 29, 2017

“Despacito” has just made history — again.

Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” remix featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber has tied an historic record with Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” for the most weeks spent at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, as the remix logs its 16th week.

Back in 1995-96, “One Sweet Day” ruled the Hot 100 for 16 consecutive weeks.

That was 21 and a half years ago. Carey and Boyz II Men’s chart record hasn’t been matched or beaten since — until now.

After announcing “Despacito’s” new joint record on Monday, Billboard described the achievement as “perhaps the most vaunted record for a song in the 59-year history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.”

It gets more historic. The remix’s 16 weeks stint atop the Hot 100 marks the first time that a predominantly Spanish language track has topped the chart since Los del Río’s “Macarena” remix spent 14 weeks at No. 1 in 1996, and is the longest running foreign language Hot 100 No. 1 of all time. It’s also the undisputed song of the summer.

Fonsi, Yankee, and Bieber scored yet another record after logging a 17th week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart.

Billboard notes “Despacito” stays at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart for a record-setting 16th week, and an incredible 30th week atop the Hot Latin Songs chart.

Given the context of President Donald Trump’s criticisms of Mexican immigrants, his views of immigrants as a whole, his vow to build a border wall between Mexico and the U.S, and the current polarized climate in America, some media and pop observers see “Despacito’s” phenomenal chart domination in the U.S. as a sign of a needed counter-message to Trump’s administration.

Similarly, while the reggaeton single heated up the charts all year, Fonsi and Yankee consistently talked up Latin music’s growing voice as a genre influencer.

Fast forward to Monday’s reveal of “Despacito’s” record tie with “One Sweet Day.” Shortly after the roll-out, both Fonsi and Yankee took to their social media to share their delight over their latest Hot 100 chart accolade.

Yankee tweeted “This proves, the capacities, & reach our in Spanish can achieve. Let’s unite so we can have more respect & presence in the world.”

On Instagram and Twitter, Fonsi screenshot Billboard’s report on the record with the caption, “This is historic for Latin Music! Thank you guys for all your support.”

The 39-year-old shared that he was “feeling very blessed right now,” adding, “Gracias @daddyyankee, @justinbieber #Despacito #MakingHistory @billboard.”

As yet, the Biebs hasn’t posted anything about the record. That may well be due to the shocking posting of nude photos of the Canadian superstar by hackers at his ex Selena Gomez’s Instagram within minutes of the chart record announcement.

Gomez’s team deleted the actress-singers Instagram account as soon as the hack was discovered. The account was quickly reinstated. Inevitably, the pics resurfaced on the Internet.

It’s important to note that these illegally shared naked shots of Justin were taken by hidden paparazzi without his knowledge and consent during a private island vacation in 2015.

Meanwhile, as the Inquisitr previously reported, the remix played a significant role in the success of “Despacito” globally.

The original “Despacito” (with Fonsi and Yankee) arrived on January 13 and quickly set a new Vevo record with its music video. It is now the most viewed video in history with over three billion views.

The original landed No. 1’s on official national singles throughout Latin America, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain. It also reached No. 4 on global Spotify.

However, after the Bieber-featuring remix was released on April 17, it topped every other official national singles chart around the world.

These included Australia, Canada, Sweden, Norway, other European countries, the Middle East, markets in Asia, the U.K, India, Russia, Africa, and the U.S.

The remix also exploded on Spotify, topping the U.S. chart on May 28 where it stayed for months as well as the global chart.

Bieber, Fonsi, and Yankee’s remix outstreamed the original song on Spotify globally just three months after it dropped, and was No. 1 on the service in 36 more markets than the original.

The remix — together with the original — sat at No. 1 on Worldwide iTunes for a total of 103 days.

On Billboard’s Hot 100, the original version of the single was at No. 48 before the remix debuted. The Bieber-remix charted at No. 9 one week later, jumped to No. 3, then to No. 1 where it remains for its now 16th week.

For Fonsi, Yankee, and Bieber, they’re in a rather lovely position of being able to ask, “Which Record Is My Fave?”

Is it, say, the record for Most Steamed Song Of All Time, which “Despacito” scored in July (neatly dethroning Bieber’s “Sorry”), after pulling in 4.6 billion combined plays of the song across leading streaming platforms. Or is it their tie with Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day” for Most Weeks Spent At No. 1 on the Hot 100?

Although Bieber doesn’t feature on “Despacito’s” music video and original version of the song, he contributed to the stratospheric achievements of the remix along with Fonsi and Yankee.

It’s also evident that the Biebs-remix pushed the track in countries that previously did not embrace Latin music. In short; the remix helped turn a huge hit into a juggernaut.

Looking to next week, there’s absolutely no chance Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” won’t launch at No. 1 in the Hot 100’s upcoming update. Swift’s comeback hit is reportedly tracking for a debut of between 500,000-550,000 sales.

That will, of course, prevent the “Despacito” remix from surpassing 16-weeks at the top of the chart.

However, it’s likely Fonsi, Yankee, and Bieber will view tying a historic record with some of the greatest singers of all time, as the perfect destiny for a surprise, (mostly) Spanish summer hit at this critical time in America.

[Featured Image by Lynne Sladky/AP Images]

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