Sony/ATV Honors Luis Fonsi With Global #1 Award For DESPACITO

Sony/ATV Music Publishing has honored its long-time songwriter Luis Fonsi with a special award in recognition of the record-breaking success of the hit "Despacito." The song, which was co-written by Fonsi with fellow Sony/ATV songwriters Daddy Yankee and Erika Ender, last year became a No. 1 hit around the world as well as the most-streamed song of all time and YouTube's most-played video. It was named last week by Spotify as the first Spanish-language song on the service to reach 1 billion streams globally.

Its chart-topping feats include a record-equaling 16-week stay at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. where it became the chart's first primarily Spanish-language No. 1 in more than two decades. It has also just broken the record for the most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart where it is currently enjoying its 42nd week at the top.

"Despacito" also ruled the Official U.K. Singles Chart for 11 weeks, while among the countless other territories where it reached No. 1 were Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

It last summer additionally became the most-streamed song globally of all time after reaching 4.6 billion streams, while its video is the first to surpass 4 billion plays on YouTube.

To recognize the phenomenal success of the song, which has led a Latin music revolution across the world, Luis Fonsi's publisher Sony/ATV, which first signed him 13 years ago, awarded him with a special honor hailing "Despacito" as a Global #1.

The award was presented to him by Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV Co-President, U.S. Danny Strick and Sony/ATV President, Latin America and U.S. Latin Jorge Mejia.

At the presentation in New York Jorge Mejia commented to the star about the global impact of "Despacito": "Times change. That's a given. But this time you are integral to the times changing."

The popularity of the song was further highlighted last week when Luis Fonsi and his "Despacito" co-writer Daddy Yankee received 10 nominations for the forthcoming 2018 Billboard Latin Music Awards, including for Songwriter of the Year where Erika Ender is also nominated.

At the Billboard Latin Awards, Sony/ATV uniquely occupies two of the four nominations in the Publisher of the Year category where it is represented by its Latin operations Sony/ATV Discos Music Publishing LLC, ASCAP and Sony/ATV Latin Music Publishing, LLC, BMI. It is also nominated for Publishing Corporation of the Year. The awards ceremony will take on April 26 in Las Vegas.

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