Hot 100 First-Timers: Gabito Ballesteros, Peso Pluma & Natanael Cano Arrive With ‘AMG’

Gabito Ballesteros, Peso Pluma and Natanael Cano all team up to score their first appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 as “AMG” debuts at No. 92 on the latest Feb. 4-dated chart.

The song, which the trio released Nov. 24 via Los CT/Rancho Humilde/Worms/Prajin Parlay/Prajin/Warner Latina, arrives almost entirely from its streaming sum: 5.8 million official U.S. streams (up 24%) in the Jan. 20-26 tracking week, according to Luminate.

The track concurrently jumps 15-10 on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart, becoming the first top hit for Ballesteros and Pluma, and the second for Cano. “AMG” also ascends 62-50 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart and 71-50 on the Billboard Global 200.

TikTok has helped grow the song’s profile, as a portion of it has been used in over 160,000 videos on the platform to date. (TikTok does not contribute to Billboard‘s charts.)

Singer-songwriter Ballesteros is new to Billboard’s charts. “AMG” marked his first appearance when it debuted on Hot Latin Songs (Dec. 10). He scored his second entry last week (charts dated Jan. 28), when his collaboration with Junior H, “Vamos Para Arriba,” opened at No. 32 Hot Latin Songs survey — it dips to No. 36 this week.

Peso Pluma first reached a Billboard chart last April when “El Belicón,” with Raul Vega, debuted at No. 50 on Hot Latin Songs (before peaking at No. 46 two weeks later). The singer-songwriter has since charted four additional Hot Latin Songs hits: “Siempre Pendientes,” with Luis R. Conriquez (No. 27 peak in November); “El Gavilán,” with Conriquez and Tony Aguirre (No. 41, December); “Igualito A Mi Apá,” with Fuerza Regida (No. 45, January); and now “AMG.”

“Siempre Pendientes” also became Peso Pluma’s first global chart hit, as it reached No. 155 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 174 on the Global 200.

At just 21 years old, Cano is already a fairly seasoned hitmaker on Billboard’s charts. The Mexican rapper-singer has tallied 11 entries on Hot Latin Songs, dating to his first, “Soy El Diablo,” with Bad Bunny, in November 2019. Of those, one has climbed to the top 10: “Amor Tumbado” (No. 8, February 2020). He has also charted seven titles on the Top Latin Albums chart, including two top 10s: Corridos Tumbados (No. 4, 2019) and A Mis 20 (No. 9, 2021).

Corridos Tumbados also spent 31 weeks at No. 1 on the Regional Mexican Albums chart. That’s the fourth-longest reign in the chart’s history, after Selena’s Amor Prohibido (97 weeks), Christian Nodal’s Me Dejé Llevar (73) and Eslabon Armado’s Corta Venas (54).

Cano is signed to Republic Records via Rancho Humilde. In May 2022, he signed a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music. “Nata is a unique talent, who, at such a young age, has already secured his legacy in the industry,” WCM’s president, U.S. Latin & Latin America, Gustavo Menéndez said at the time. “He has an incredible delivery with an uncanny penmanship as a songwriter, no matter the genre.”

Xander Zellner

Billboard