It’s been 22 years since Selena Quintanilla tragically left our plane, however, her music still lives and has never failed to pull just the right heartstrings to make everyone in the dancefloor Bidi Bidi Bom Bom, to this day, it is hard to imagine a Latino artist that can inspire so many in the way Selena does.
It’s not a surprise that her 1995 album Dreaming of You which was released posthumously, was an immediate critical and commercial success, becoming the first predominately Spanish-language album to debut on top of the United States Billboard 200, to this day it is still the top-selling Latin album of the last 25 years. According to Nielsen Holdings, a global information, data, and measurement company with headquarters in the U.K. Selena’s swan song work sold 2.9 million copies, beating out other artists like Gloria Estefan, Daddy Yankee, Shakira, and Ricky Martin in the process.
Dreaming of You was released on July 18, 1995, by EMI Latin and EMI Records, only a few months after the Tex-Mex Queen’s death, and contained some of her greatest and most successful singles including the beautifully romantic ballad “I Could Fall in Love,” the oneiric and way ahead of its time ethereal composition “Dreaming of You,” and of course “Techno Cumbia,” everyone’s favorite quinceañera groove. The record sold 175,000 copies on its release day in the United States, which at that time had set a record for a female artist. By the end of the first week, it had already sold 331,000 units, becoming the second-highest first-week sales for a female musician since Nielsen Soundscan began monitoring album sales in 1991.
Selena’s prior album and fan favorite, Amor Prohíbido, is also in the top 5 of the top-selling Latin albums in the last 25 years. The record that gave us “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” holds the fourth spot of the elite Latino music royalty list after selling 1,242,000 copies, featuring other famous hits like karaoke favorite “Fotos y Recuerdos,” and “No Me Queda Más,” which is probably one of the best songs to drink tequila to. The two other records that stand between Amor Prohibido and Dreaming of You, are “The Best of the Gipsy Kings” by The Gipsy Kings and Buena Vista Social Club’s self titled album, so you can see the quality musicians Selena goes against. With these two records under her fashionable belt, the upcoming Hollywood Walk of Fame star that will don her name, two Madame Tussauds wax figures, and the 2016 makeup line is more than enough proof that Selena’s legacy will re-write Latino music history.
Article inspired by Pop Sugar // It’s Been 22 Years Since Selena Quintanilla’s Death and She Still Holds This 1 Record