Prince Royce and Romeo Santos get snubbed

Their surprise collaboration Better Late Than Never debuted at number one on the Tropical Albums chart in November 2025 but received zero Latin Grammy nominations on September 16, 2026.

The real problem: no bachata in bachata category

The best merengue/bachata album category has zero pure bachata albums nominated, with only about 15 percent of the music in those albums being bachata.

“if bachata is in the name of the category, where is the representation of bachata?”

Prince Royce posts open letter on Instagram

He writes that when institutions include a genre in a category name, they assume responsibility for knowing, respecting, and representing that culture.

“when an institution decides to include the name of a culture and a genre in a category, it also assumes the responsibility of knowing, respecting and representing them”

Nationality is not the same as genre

Prince Royce clarifies that having Dominican artists nominated doesn't mean bachata is represented, since being Dominican is a nationality while bachata is a distinct genre with its own culture and history.

“Being Dominican is a nationality. Bachata is a genre, a culture and a history with its own identity.”

Bachata's decades-long fight for respect

For decades, bachata has struggled to gain respect and occupy its rightful place on the global stage, making its omission from a category bearing its name particularly significant.

“For decades, bachata has fought to be respected and to occupy the place it deserves on the global stage.”

This is bigger than one artist's snub

Prince Royce emphasizes the issue isn't about his personal nomination but about whether the Latin Recording Academy truly understands and respects the genre it claims to honor.

“when not a single bachata album is included in the only "bachata" category, this stops being about whether I receive a nomination or not.”

Romeo Santos' long Grammy drought

Despite being arguably the biggest bachata star since the 1990s, Romeo Santos has only received four Latin Grammy nominations since his 2011 solo debut and won just once in 2023.

Academy CEO offers no explanation

When asked about the omissions of major artists like Romeo Santos and Fuerza Regida, Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud said the membership votes and he cannot explain their reasoning.

“it is our membership that votes, and we administer the process”