For anyone who grew up in a Spanish-speaking country or a Spanish-speaking home, telenovelas were not only part of the soundtrack of their lives, but of their very upbringing. Because watching telenovelas is not a lonely pursuit; it’s a shared experience with parents, siblings, friends, nannies, college roommates and grandparents.
Indeed, the origins of telenovelas date back to the factories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with some historians specifically referencing tobacco factories in Cuba, where a “reader” would read stories to distract those who rolled the tobacco. From there, they evolved into the famous radio novelas, where daily chapters were narrated. These, in turn, became telenovelas, which are often equated with soap operas, but they’re more like cousins. Telenovelas air daily, both in daytime and nighttime slots, and their running time is far shorter than that a soap opera, usually between three to six months.
Produced throughout Latin America, but especially in Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela (previously), Colombia, and Brazil, the DNA of the telenovela is melodrama — love, betrayal, revenge, passion — all taken to the extreme. And of course, there’s the music: Each telenovela comes with its main theme, the song that announces the program’s beginning or its farewell, the siren that calls us to watch. It’s impossible to think of a telenovela without thinking of the song that identifies it, and for many artists, getting a song into a telenovela was a crucial marketing component to land a hit.
At Billboard, we set out to make a list of the 100 songs that made the most emblematic telenovelas memorable in our collective memories. Compiling the list was a titanic task, as there are literally thousands of telenovelas that have been successful on the continent, with ratings varying from country to country. We gathered all the editors and contributors of Billboard Latin and Billboard Español — 11 journalists in total, born and raised in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, the United States, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic — and asked each one to select their favorite theme songs.
Although telenovelas date back to the 1950s, our list starts in the 1970s. We focused on “traditional” telenovelas, those that are broadcast daily during the day or night. We did not include biographical telenovelas based on the lives of specific people, or weekly series. We zeroed in on productions from Latin American countries and the United States, but did not include Brazilian telenovelas, given the language difference, or those produced in Spain. But we did include “narconovelas,” those dealing with cartel themes, as they are a specific subgenre of the daily telenovela.
Although we consider the 100 songs on this list to be the pinnacle of the genre, we have ranked them in order of importance, considering their impact, history, performer, and their influence on the history of music and the telenovela. For the next five weeks, every Monday we will publish a list of 20 telenovela theme songs, starting with Number 100, until we reach No. 1 in December.
This week’s list counts down to No. 21. Enjoy!
