Whether you like the song or not, you’ve inevitably jammed out to “Despacito” at some point in the last year.
The song has been everywhere. It broke a global streaming record in July, set the Vevo record for most views of a Spanish-language video in 24 hours with 5.4 million hits, and marked the first time in more than 20 years that a mostly Spanish-language song ranked in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 (the previous top 10 hit was in 1996 with Los Del Rio’s “Macarena”).
Adding to all of that success, “Despacito,” sung by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, featuring Justin Bieber, was nominated on Tuesday morning for three Grammys: Record of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, and song of the year.
The latter of those three is the most significant for what it could mean for Latin music. Should “Despacito” win the Grammy for song of the year, it’d be the first time a Spanish-language song took that award.
As the Los Angeles Times notes, the last time a non-English-language song won that award, it was the very first Grammys in 1959. Domenico Modugno and Franco Migliacci won for “Volare,” which was sung in Italian by Modugno.
The 2018 Grammy Awards will air Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS, so tune in if you want to see if “Despacito” is the favorito, baby.
Before You Go
