Premio Lo Nuestro 2026 returned to Miami’s Kaseya Center on Thursday, February 19, 2026, with a ceremony that doubled as a scoreboard for Latin music’s current power structure and a stage show built around premieres, unlikely pairings, and legacy tributes. Bad Bunny finished as the night’s top winner with six awards, while Carín León followed with five, underscoring how urbano and música mexicana continue to share the center of gravity in the market right now.
What made this year’s show feel especially telling is that the “big night” story wasn’t one genre taking over it was multiple lanes showing real weight at once: urbano at the top of the headline categories, música mexicana stacking wins across competitive fields, and pop/tropical using performance moments and tour wins to reinforce longevity.
Bad Bunny’s sweep Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (“DTMF”), and Album of the Year (Debí Tirar Más Fotos) reads less like a surprise and more like a confirmation of where he sits in the ecosystem: not just as a hitmaker, but as the artist who can convert cultural scale into awards outcomes across categories.
Carín León’s five wins, meanwhile, reinforce a larger trend that’s been building for the past two years: música mexicana is no longer “breaking through” it’s competing as a primary commercial language of Latin music, with crossover credibility and collaboration strategy baked into the awards conversation.
Key Winners: What the Results Actually Said
Biggest winners of the night
- Bad Bunny — 6 wins, including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (“DTMF”), and Album of the Year (Debí Tirar Más Fotos)
- Carín León — 5 wins, including Mexican Music – Male Artist of the Year and Mexican Music – Song of the Year (“El Amor de mi Herida”)
- Karol G — 3 wins, including Urban – Female Artist of the Year and Urban – Collaboration of the Year (“+57”)
- Maluma — 3 wins (including recognition tied to “+57” and “Si Tú Me Vieras”)
- Yuridia — 3 wins, including Mexican Music – Album of the Year (Sin Llorar)
Major headline categories (selected)
- Premio Lo Nuestro Artist of the Year:Bad Bunny
- Album of the Year:Bad Bunny — Debí Tirar Más Fotos
- Song of the Year:Bad Bunny — “DTMF”
- Urban – Male Artist of the Year:Bad Bunny
- Urban – Female Artist of the Year:Karol G
- Tour of the Year:Shakira — Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour
Special Awards (legacy honors)
It was a night of special recognitions for Arcángel, Juanes, Los Bukis, Manolo Díaz, and Paloma San Basilio.
Performances Recap: The Sets That Defined Premio Lo Nuestro 2026
Marc Anthony and Nathy Peluso set the tone early
The ceremony opened with Marc Anthony delivering the global TV premiere of “Como en el Idilio,” joined by Nathy Peluso framed as his first original salsa duet with a female vocalist in more than three decades. That detail matters because it positions the performance as both spectacle and statement: classic salsa infrastructure with a modern, personality-forward collaborator.
Maluma and Kany García brought pop drama with “1+1”
Kany García and Maluma performed “1+1,” a pairing that worked because it leaned into contrast: Kany’s songwriting weight meets Maluma’s pop-star precision. On a night where many performances were built for big-room impact, this one hit differently more about song and delivery than fireworks.
Romeo Santos and Prince Royce delivered the bachata moment
One of the most replayed clips coming out of the show is Romeo Santos and Prince Royce performing a bachata medley featuring “Lokita Por Mí” and “Dardos.” In terms of cultural math, this was the night’s clearest “genre legacy” flex: bachata doesn’t need to chase trends when the genre’s top voices can command attention on instinct alone.
Carín León’s regional Mexican premiere
Carín León’s TV premiere of “Lado Frágil” as one of the night’s most talked-about música mexicana moments important not only as performance placement, but as confirmation that regional Mexican is being staged with the same primetime priority as urbano.
Carlos Vives and more TV premieres
The show also featured the TV premiere of Carlos Vives’ “Te Dedico,” plus a back-to-back performance from Elena Rose and Rawayana (“Luna de Miel” / “Naguará”), keeping the pacing genre-fluid instead of siloed.
The closing run: Ryan Castro, Kapo, Kybba, and J Balvin
Ryan Castro and Kapo premiered “La Villa,”then Castro rolled into “Ba Ba Bad Remix” alongside Kybba, before joining J Balvin for the world premiere of “Tonto.” This kind of ending is not accidental it’s built like a release strategy: stack debuts, stack collaborators, leave the audience with “new music” as the takeaway.
Awards nights always reflect industry politics, but they also reflect real-time consumption patterns. This year’s results read like the current market structure:
- Urbano still owns the most valuable “headline categories,” especially when a top-tier star is active in the cycle.
- Música mexicana continues to behave like a mainline engine, not a side genre winning deep categories while also holding crossover leverage through collaborations.
- Touring is now treated as a defining metric of dominance (see Tour of the Year going to Shakira).
Premio Lo Nuestro 2026 wasn’t just “Bad Bunny won a lot.” It was a clearer snapshot of how Latin music power works in 2026: the artists who can build a full campaign album narrative, single identity, collaborations that travel across formats are the ones who sweep across categories. Bad Bunny’s wins across artist/song/album show what happens when an era is cohesive enough to become a ballot consensus, not just a streaming moment.
The other headline is Carín León. Five wins plus crossover recognition signals that música mexicana’s ceiling has moved. It’s no longer competing for “representation” on big stages; it’s competing for the same top-of-night oxygen as urbano. And the show staged it that way: regional Mexican premieres, pop/rock collaborations, and a ceremony flow that treats genre diversity as the product, not the side dish.
If last night is any indicator, 2026 is going to be less about one sound “taking over” and more about which artists can translate their lane into scale across awards, touring, and premieres. Premio Lo Nuestro is increasingly functioning as a launchpad for first-performances and new singles, not just a year-end trophy night.
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