Rosalía took the Hall of Fame and the pop prize, and said she is not sure LUX is pop

Juan Luis Guerra handed Rosalía the Billboard Hall of Fame Award in Miami on Thursday, October 22, 2026. The Dominican singer-songwriter presented it at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, held at the James L. Knight Center. "I am in shock; I will never forget this moment," the Spanish artist said. Later that night she won Top Latin Pop Album of the Year for LUX, and told the audience she is not sure the album is pop.

An award built for crossing genres

The Billboard Hall of Fame Award does not reward a single year's work. Billboard says it was first dedicated to Selena Quintanilla in 1995, and the press release describes it as honoring "an extraordinary career defined by musical innovation, a singular artistic vision and an influence that has transcended genres, languages and borders."

Billboard and Telemundo announced weeks beforehand that she would receive it and attend in person. She was also a finalist for six awards. The Latin Times, summarizing the same announcement, reads the honor as recognition of influence across genres, languages and international markets.

The career behind it is short on repetition. Born in Barcelona, Rosalía reinvented flamenco for a new generation with her 2018 album El Mal Querer, according to Billboard. In 2022 she wrote, performed, recorded and produced Motomami herself. It gave her a first entry on the all-genre Billboard 200, debuting in the top 40, and it spent 25 weeks at No. 1 on the Top Latin Pop Albums chart between 2022 and 2023. LUX, released in 2025, uses 13 different languages and earned her a first Billboard 200 top 10, debuting at No. 4. She has since completed a 57-show arena tour that opened in March and crossed Europe, North America and South America, ending in Miami in September.

Billboard had already named her Woman of the Year at its Latin Women in Music gala earlier in 2026.

A speech that named the people before her

Guerra opened with "querida Rosalía" and gave the award with joy, according to the Dominican newspaper Listín Diario, as summarized by the Rio Times. The Rio Times also quotes a translation of his social media post, which thanks her for her art, her voice and a creativity that "always seeks the sublime". Listín Diario is the only outlet it names for that message.

Rosalía's reply was a thank-you to a colleague first. "You are a master among masters," she told Guerra, adding that his songs had made her cry, dance and feel alive. She then listed those she says made her work possible, naming "the artists who came before me and paved the way": Celia Cruz, Rocío Dúrcal, Vicente Fernández, Daddy Yankee and Guerra himself.

The last thanks went to Latin America, for "all these years of inspiration and lessons". She said she hopes to keep finding ways to return that affection and generosity.

She placed herself in a line of Latin singers. She did not claim to have left them behind. The speech closed on a toast: "long live music in Spanish".

Rosalía has been in the news for other reasons this month. She spoke to CBS about how she will not replay LUX, which took her two years, and she sang "Reliquia" almost entirely en pointe on Saturday Night Live on October 10, 2026. The Miami speech belongs to another register: gratitude, not performance.

A pop album on five charts

The pop prize came with a caveat from the winner herself. "Thank God, and thank you to my family, my team, and my fans," she said on accepting it. About the genre she was less settled: she is not sure whether LUX is a pop album, she said, and then offered "I think it is, I hope so, anyway".

The doubt is easy to follow in the chart numbers. According to the award announcement, LUX debuted at No. 1 on five Billboard charts: Top Latin Albums, Top Latin Pop Albums, Classical Albums, Classical Crossover Albums and World Albums. A category is a filing cabinet, and this record has been filed in several drawers at once.

The record also travelled beyond the Latin charts. According to the Latin Times, "La Perla", her collaboration with Yahritza y Su Esencia, debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Global 200, and "Berghain", featuring Björk and Yves Tumor, also entered that global chart. Songs in that company are hard to file under a single genre.

The Latin Times draws the conclusion that the pattern reflects how Rosalía treats genre as fluid, moving between Latin pop, flamenco, orchestral music and experimental production. That is the Latin Times's reading, not a statement from her team.

Rosalía added a line of her own about where the record comes from: she is from Barcelona, and she is proud to make music in Spanish. The Rio Times, which also relays the El Día report of the speech, puts the two statements side by side: a doubt about the label, and no doubt about the language.

The pop category had competition. Billboard's list of finalists for Top Latin Pop Album of the Year includes Becky G's Baraja Bendita and Kevin Kaarl's Hasta el Fin Del Mundo. In Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Solo, Rosalía won against finalists including Danny Ocean, Kapo and Shakira.

Three awards on a night of many winners

Others had a bigger night. Billboard's roundup says Fuerza Regida took eight awards, including the Vanguard Award. Bad Bunny won seven without attending, while Karol G, Peso Pluma and Romeo Santos won four each. Rosalía, Tito Double P and Prince Royce took three each.

Billboard's text names the Hall of Fame Award and two category wins for Rosalía: Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Solo, and Top Latin Pop Album of the Year for LUX. The show ran 47 categories across pop, tropical, Latin rhythm and regional Mexican music.

A new Fan Favorite Artist award, chosen by fans for the first time, went to Karol G. Cristian Castro received the Lifetime Achievement Award and Rubén Blades the Icon Award. Peso Pluma had led the finalist list with 17 mentions, so the ranking of nominations and the ranking of trophies did not match.

For viewers in the United States, the ceremony aired live on Telemundo and Peacock, as the announcement stated. The Hall of Fame Award is a US music industry honor, which is why the Dominican and Spanish press covered a ceremony held in Florida.

Who has held the award, and what is not settled

The Rio Times reports that El Nacional, a Dominican newspaper, calls Celia Cruz, Rocío Dúrcal, Vicente Fernández and Daddy Yankee past recipients. El Nacional also says Rosalía is the second Spanish artist to get the award. The Rio Times notes that Billboard and Telemundo do not say so, so the claim rests on one outlet.

The same piece says the sources it checked do not confirm any collaboration, plan or shared project between Rosalía and Guerra. What the record shows is a public exchange of praise on a Miami stage.

The Rio Times also says it reviewed Billboard's winners list but not the broadcast itself. The wording of Guerra's introduction therefore comes from the Dominican press, not from a transcript of the show.

Las Vegas on November 12

The next test comes less than three weeks after Miami. The Latin Recording Academy announced on October 20, 2026, according to Rolling Stone, that Rosalía will perform at the Latin Grammy Awards, with Silvana Estrada, Daddy Yankee and others. The ceremony takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on November 12 and airs live on Univision from 8 p.m. ET. Roselyn Sánchez hosts for the tenth time.

Rosalía has seven nominations for her fourth album LUX, among them Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Song. Rolling Stone's nominations story shows her tied at seven with Karol G, CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, and Jorge Drexler. The nominations cover recordings released between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026. "La Perla," her song with Yahritza y Su Esencia, is also on the list.

The Spanish site Que.es points out that Rosalía and the Brazilian singer Anitta compete for Album of the Year on the same night they perform, and Anitta's nominated album is Equilibrivm. Que.es argues that performing and competing at once is a harder exam than a campaign. It also notes that the Academy has not released the running order or how many songs each artist will sing.

The winner of the pop album prize in Miami will find out on November 12 whether the voters in Las Vegas file the record in the same drawer.

Sources

• Billboard Latin Music Awards 2026 Winners: Complete List, Billboard, October 22, 2026