Eslabon Armado Make History With ‘Desvelado’ No. 1 Debut on Top Latin Albums Chart: ‘It Means A Lot’

Eslabon Armado make history with the No. 1 debut of their full-length album Desvelado on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums chart (dated May 13). With 44,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week, the set scores the largest week for a regional Mexican album since the survey started measuring titles by units in February 2017.

“It means a lot being No. 1 on Top Latin Albums,” Pedro Tovar tells Billboard. “It’s probably our favorite album, but we didn’t expect it to go that high! Mainly because I know that people don’t like something at first, but when four, five, six months or a whole year pass by, there’s always that one song that hits, and then everybody is like, ‘Oh, this is my favorite album!’”

Desvelado was released April 27 via DEL Records. The 16-track effort starts with 44,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. during the April 28-May 4 tracking week, according to Luminate.

As its predecessor (Nostalgia, 2022), nearly all of Desvelado’s first-week total was fueled by streaming-equivalent album units, with 43,000 stemming from the metric. In total, its songs drew 63.51 million official U.S. streams – the most in a week ever for a regional Mexican album.

The set also boasts the fifth biggest streaming opening week among Latin albums, after Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti (365.55 million official streams, May 2022), YHLQMDLG (201.37 million, March 2020) and El Último Tour del Mundo (145.94 million, Dec. 2020), as well as Karol G’s Mañana Sera Bonito (118.73 million streams, March 11-dated list).

On the all-genre Billboard 200, Desvelado opens at No. 6, becoming the highest rank ever for a regional Mexican album, since the ranking started measuring by units in December 2014. It also becomes the second album to hit the top 10, surpassing Eslabon Armado’s No. 9-peaking Nostalgia in May 2022.

“The hardest challenge producing and recording this album was the timing,” Tovar remembers. “We wanted to release it on the 27th and we had such a short time to record everything. Plus, I didn’t really get much time to put in the final touches, so I put it on God’s hands. The result was amazing.”

As Desvelado arrives at the summit on Top Latin Albums, Eslabon Armado maintain their perfect run of six straight top 10s among six chart appearances. Out of those, one other album took the quartet up the penthouse: the one-week ruler VIbras de Noche in August 2020. Plus, Eslabon’s sixth studio effort sends Benito’s Un Verano Sin Ti to No. 2 after its 46-nonconsecutive-week domination. (Karol G’s Mañana Será Bonito crowned for five weeks in between.)

Desvelado was preceded by the No. 1 viral hit “Ella Baila Sola” with Peso Pluma — in its fourth week in charge on the multimetric Hot Latin Songs chart. It concurrently reaches No. 1 on the Streaming Songs chart, with 34.6 million official U.S. streams, up 2%. It’s the first regional Mexican song to lead the list and the first No. 1 on the chart for both acts. Elsewhere, “Ella Baila” rises 20-9 on the all-Latin-genre Latin Airplay tally with 6.7 million in audience impressions earned during the same tracking week, a first top 10 for Peso Pluma there.

Meanwhile, among the new recruits on Hot Latin Songs, “Así Lo Quiso Dios,” with Luis R. Conriquez, bows at No. 24. “Quédate Conmigo,” with Grupo Frontera, follows at No. 25, while “Quiés Es El?” starts at No. 33.

“Honestly, ‘Quédate Conmigo,’ with Grupo Frontera, is the song I relate to with the most,” Tovar muses. “It’s super romantic and it fits me perfectly because now I am in love. In a way, I am kind of dedicating that song to a special someone.”

About Desvelado’s eight collaborations, Tovar concludes: “I think the best one is with Peso Pluma, mainly because it’s the No. 1 song. Everywhere I go I hear it… everywhere! I don’t get tired of singing that song at all.”