Bloomberg 50
Bad Bunny, the Planet’s Biggest Pop Star
The reggaeton singer grossed more than $230 million on tour in 2022, exceeding all other acts, and had the year’s bestselling album despite competition from Beyoncé, BTS, Drake and Harry Styles.
Photo illustration: 731; photo: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
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Two years after the pandemic shut down touring, the biggest pop stars were ready to hit the road. Harry Styles, Elton John, Dua Lipa, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran and the Weeknd played to sold-out venues. But none of them performed in front of more people than Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny.
He first received acclaim for his music on SoundCloud as a teen growing up in a poor town in Puerto Rico. The 2018 release of his debut studio album, X 100pre, led to a performance at the 2020 Super Bowl. He released three albums that year, the third of which, El Último Tour del Mundo (“The Last Tour of the World”), became the first Spanish-language album to hit No. 1 in the US.