Over the past 12 months, Billboard‘s Latin Artist on the Rise series has featured a select group of artists who had a breakthrough inside or outside of their genre, scored a significant chart feat and/or created a buzz that was impossible to ignore.
The features that are part of this seres capture artists who are on the brink of stardom — just how we captured Peso Pluma in March 2023 when he was about to explode globally — and this year has not been the exception.
Regional Mexican hitmaker Xavi was the first Latin Artist of the Rise of 2024, and it’s safe to say he went on to have an extraordinary year. The Mexican American singer-songwriter earned the title of new artist of the year at the 2024 Billboard Latin Music Awards, dropped his debut album Next in October and scored the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s New Latin Artists of 2024 list.
Colombian artist Ela Taubert was November’s Latin Artist on the Rise in honor of her major win at the Latin Grammys — where she won best new artist. The Bogotá-born singer-songwriter launched her career singing covers, including Adele’s “Don’t You Remember” that went viral on TikTok. Subsequently, Taubert became an alumnus of the inaugural generation of Universal Music Latin’s Abbey Road Institute & Art House Academy.
Other artists that were part of our Latin Artist on the Rise series this year were Tito Double P, Codiciado, Luis Alfonso and, most recently, Christian Alicea.
Below, we highlight all the 11 artists who were featured as our Latin Artist on the Rise throughout 2024.
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Xavi
Image Credit: Luca Giannattasio Featured On: January 30
Memorable Quote: “Since we were little, we used to go to church with my grandparents. Just seeing my grandpa playing with so much passion — and the truth is that when he sang, he sang with feeling, he sang with love and he did it for God. I remember that day I fell in love with music.”
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Venesti
Image Credit: Andrés Vallejo Featured On: February 29
Memorable Quote: “I thought to myself, ‘Why not sing about the things I write about?’ I had already become a poet trying to win over this girl. That was when I got the curiosity to turn those poems into melody and want to make songs. That’s how I discovered that this was my passion and that I vibe with music.”
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Tito Double P
Image Credit: David Cabrera Featured On: April 25
Memorable Quote: “I never thought I’d be a songwriter, much less an artist, but music was something that was always on my mind. As a kid, I was good with rhymes — and when I got to high school, I learned to play the guitar, because you either chose to do sports, learn chess or take guitar classes. I chose guitar, then chess — but never sports.”
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Cris MJ
Image Credit: Diego Castro Featured On: May 30
Memorable Quote: “I didn’t watch cartoons growing up, I watched reggaetón music videos.”
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Codiciado
Image Credit: Lalo the Giant Featured On: June 27
Memorable Quote: “When we made the decision to split up, I really wanted to stop — I didn’t want to make music, because I was with the idea that we were a group and that people knew me for the group. But the people who were with me at the time gave me encouragement to say that it wasn’t over, that it was just a stepping stone, a stumble. We had to keep going.”
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Lomiiel
Image Credit: Jean Soto/ BOGA PR Agency Featured On: July 31
Memorable Quote: “It’s something different that was truthfully missing in dembow. I know my audience very well and I structure myself well for them. That’s why Lomiiel, in just nine months, has been able to get to where I am today.”
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Kapo
Image Credit: Estiven Rodríguez Gallego Featured On: August 30
Memorable Quote: “I lived at a gas station in a small town called El Cabuyal, where that’s the only type of music that was heard. I sang at the small stores and parking lots near the truck stop, that’s how I debuted, and people would give me coins. I wanted to become a global artist.”
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Omar Courtz
Image Credit: TNR Public Relations/PulpiProd Featured On: September 26
Memorable Quote: “SoundCloud gave us the opportunity for ease, for speed, for you to create a song today and send it out to the world.”
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Luis Alfonso
Image Credit: David Cabrera Featured On: October 31
Memorable Quote: “The achievement and magnitude of how important this was for the Colombian popular genre is indescribable. For me, having been at such an important space is a feeling of gratitude to all the beautiful people who make this possible.”
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Ela Taubert
Image Credit: Maria Juliah Featured On: November 21
Memorable Quote: “For me, it was the craziest thing to see Karol G, Feid, Sebastian Yatra and Carlos Vives all reacting to my win. I respect them a lot. In the end, it’s a very hard road and seeing them at the top makes you want to keep working hard. They have a pretty big impact on emerging artists like me.”
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Christian Alicea
Image Credit: Francisco M Mejias Rosario Featured On: December 19
Memorable Quote: “When you make music you don’t think about winning an award. For my first album, I focused on finding my sound and who Christian Alicea was.”
