Romeo Santos and Prince Royce’s “Dardos” Climbs to No. 1 on Latin Airplay

Romeo Santos and Prince Royce scored a straightforward, radio-era victory this week: their duet “Dardos” moved from No. 3 to No. 1 on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart dated May 9. Luminate’s audience numbers show the song drew about 9.2 million U.S. impressions in the tracking week ending April 30, a 37% jump that made it the week’s Greatest Gainer.

The ascent feels less like a surprise than the predictable consequence of two stars who have long understood how to translate catalog prestige into steady radio rotation. “Dardos” swapped places with Maluma and Kany García’s “1+1,” which slipped to No. 3 after falling 30% to 6.5 million impressions. For Santos and Royce, it’s their second partnership to reach the top: they previously ruled the chart for three weeks with “Lokita Por Mí” from December 2025 into March 2026.

Both songs are off their joint album Better Late Than Never, which debuted at No. 2 on Top Latin Albums and spent two weeks at the top of Top Tropical Albums in late 2025. That album context matters: it’s a sustained campaign across singles, tours and visible moments — the kind of cross-platform push that still registers hard in radio programming decisions.

There are personal milestones embedded in the headline. With “Dardos” at No. 1, Santos extended his run as the tropical act with the most Latin Airplay leaders since the list started in 1994 — he’s now at 24 chart-toppers. Royce picked up his 20th Latin Airplay No. 1. On the Tropical Airplay chart the single climbed to No. 1 as well, delivering Royce his 28th No. 1 (now behind Victor Manuelle’s 29 and Marc Anthony’s 39) while Santos notched his 21st.

Those tallies are more than trivia. They map how different generations of tropical artists have kept radio relevance: Santos’s catalogue still functions as an anchor for contemporary bachata on mainstream Latin radio, while Royce’s steady accumulation of leaders marks him as a consistent programmer-friendly presence rather than a flash-in-the-pan streamer.

The week’s other notable movement came from Regional Mexican airplay. La Arrolladora Banda El Limón de René Camacho reached No. 1 on Regional Mexican Airplay with “¿Dónde Estabas Tú?” — their 22nd leader, which ties them with Banda MS for the second-most No. 1s in the chart’s roughly 32-year history. Only Calibre 50, with 29 chart-toppers, sits ahead of them. The song scored about 7 million impressions, a 10% increase over the tracking week, and follows the group’s earlier two-week run at the top with the Juanes collaboration “Una Noche Contigo.”

It is worth pausing on what these figures mean in 2026: radio still offers a distinct kind of cultural currency. Streaming can break songs quickly, but heavy rotation on Latin-format radio translates into broad demographic reach and longevity — especially for genres like regional Mexican and tropical, where listener loyalties are deep and program directors favor familiar names. The wins by Santos, Royce and La Arrolladora are less about flash and more about endurance.

There’s also a gentle industry story here about consolidation. Big-name acts keep accruing radio milestones, and while that’s testament to sustained fanbases, it leaves questions about how newer or more experimental voices gain sustained airtime in a market that often defaults to proven bankability. For now, Santos and Royce show that a collaborative record can still cut through, and La Arrolladora’s tally underscores how legacy regional bands continue to dominate a chart that remains stubbornly vital to Latin music’s ecosystem.

Photo: Malike Sidibe