Latin Grammys: Industry Picks Its Winners, Vegas Cashes In

Most of the Latin Grammy trophies will be handed out at 3 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Nov. 12, in a preliminary session called the Premiere, hours before the cameras go live. The main ceremony in Las Vegas starts at 8 p.m. ET. By then, the Latin Recording Academy will have decided who counts, and who gets the part of the show people actually watch.

Who Has the Power

The Latin Recording Academy runs the whole operation: it sets the categories, runs the nominations, hosts the Premiere, and streams the gala on its own platforms and social networks, YouTube, Facebook and X among them. Songwriter and producer Edgar Barrera leads the field with 10 nominations, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Many of those come from his work on projects by Karol G and Carín León. CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Jorge Drexler, Karol G and Rosalía follow with seven each. Silvana Estrada and Mon Laferte have six apiece.

See how the pile stacks up. The same handful of names recur across Record, Album and Song of the Year. Eleven acts are up for Best New Artist, a category that exists to tell newcomers they haven't arrived yet.

What They're Calling "Honor"

On Wednesday, Nov. 11, the Academy gives Daddy Yankee its Person of the Year recognition at a special ceremony in Las Vegas. The award celebrates his nearly 30 years of career and his role in the international expansion of reggaeton. According to Billboard, he was recognized for his influence on Latin music and for paving the way for new generations. In 2025 he returned with Lamento en Baile, a Christian-themed album whose single "Sonríele" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart in October of that year.

A genre that grew in the streets and on the margins now gets its founding figure framed and handed back by the institution.

The gala also schedules a tribute to salsero Willie Colón, directed by Ennio Gatti, alongside the original 13-member group. Another number honors José Alfredo Jiménez on the 100th anniversary of his birth, and Barrera produces it. Confirmed performers include Anitta, Bad Gyal, Bizarrap, Carín León, Cristian Castro, Daddy Yankee, Feid, Grupo Frontera, Juanes, Karol G, Milo J, Mon Laferte, Nathy Peluso, Rawayana, Reik, Rosalía, Silvana Estrada and Xavi, plus The Warning, Kany García, Jorge Drexler, Fonseca, Grupo Niche and Niña Pastori.

Who Gets the Margins

Milo J, 19, holds five nominations, including all three general categories: Record of the Year for "Niño," Song of the Year for "Solifican12," and Album of the Year for La vida era más corta. The nominee list also carries titles like "Antisistema" by J Noa & Trooko in Best Rap/Hip Hop Song, and Black Pantera's Resistência! Ao Vivo no Circo Voador in the Portuguese rock category. Songs of defiance get a slot in a category list, and the ceremony decides how loudly they're allowed to be heard.

The lists run long: dozens of categories, from tango and flamenco to Christian music in Spanish and Portuguese, children's albums and classical composition. Most of those winners will be announced at the 3 p.m. Premiere, not in the prime-time broadcast. Salsa, cumbia, tejano and flamenco artists get their moment in the afternoon session. The televised show gets the headliners.

The Academy picks the nominees, the Academy picks the winners, and the Academy owns the stage. Artists who built their audiences themselves arrive in Las Vegas to be validated by the body that sells the tickets.