Top Latin Albums is a record chart published by Billboard magazine and is labeled as the most important music chart for Spanish language, full-length albums in the American music market. Like all Billboard album charts, the chart is based on sales. Nielsen SoundScan compiles the sales data from merchants representing more than 90 percent of the U.S. music retail market. The sample includes sales at music stores, the music departments of electronics and department stores, direct-to-consumer transactions, and Internet sales of physical albums or digital downloads. A limited array of verifiable sales from concert venues is also tabulated. To rank on this chart, an album must have 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. Listings of Top Latin Albums are also shown on Telemundo's music page through a partnership between the two companies. Before this chart, all Latin music information was featured on the Latin Pop Albums chart, which began on June 29, 1985, and is still running along with the Regional Mexican Albums and Tropical Albums chart. The Latin Pop Albums chart features music only from the pop genre, while the Regional Mexican Albums chart includes information from different genres like duranguense, norteño, banda and mariachi, and the Tropical Albums includes different genres particularly salsa, merengue, bachata, and cumbia. In 2005, another chart; Latin Rhythm Albums was introduced in response to growing number of airplays from reggaeton. On the week ending February 11, 2017, Billboard updated the methodology to compile the Top Latin Albums chart into a multi-metric methodology to include track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent albums units.
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The first album to appear at number-one on this chart was Mi Tierra by Gloria Estefan on July 10, 1993. This album spent 58 non-consecutive weeks at the top of this chart, a record that stands to date. Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solís holds the record for the most number-one albums by an artist overall with 10. Fellow Mexican performers Los Temerarios is the group with the most chart-toppers, eight.
Jenni Rivera is the female artist with most number-one albums with 8. Leading after Rivera, is Selena, with 7 number-one albums. Selena's album Dreaming of You is the only album to peak at number one during three different calendar years (1995–97).
Artist with the most number-ones
Year-end best selling albums
According to the RIAA certification, regular gold certification is awarded for shipping of 500,000 copies, platinum for one million units, and multi-platinum for two million unites, and following in increments of one million thereafter. In addition, albums containing more than 50% Spanish language content may be awarded with Latin certification award, gold, (Disco de Oro) for shipments of 30,000 units, platinum (Disco de Platino) for 60,000 and multi-platinum (Multi-Platino) for 120,000 and following in increments of 60,000 thereafter (previously, Spanish-language albums were certified gold and platinum for 50,000 and 100,000 units shipped respectively before December 2013). In the following table, the certification shown is either the standard or Latin certification depending on whichever one results in a higher value.