Top 10 Mexican Music Legends

The most beloved figure in Mexican Golden Age cinema and music, Pedro Infante's ranchera and bolero recordings from the 1940s and 1950s remain among the best-selling Mexican music catalog in history and his death in a 1957 plane crash was Mexico's most publicly mourned celebrity loss until Jenni Rivera in 2012. His films and songs continue to define the idealized masculine ideal in traditional Mexican popular culture.

Costa Rican-born but wholly adopted by Mexico, Vargas's raw interpretations of rancheras — performed in indigenous garb with a poncho and mezcal glass — brought a radical female autonomy and openly lesbian identity to a genre defined by male machismo. Her late-career renaissance, when she resumed performing at age 81 after decades of alcoholism, resulted in recordings that critics placed among the most emotionally authentic in Mexican music history.

El Rey del Ranchera — the uncontested king of Mexican regional music — sold over 50 million albums, won three Grammy and nine Latin Grammy awards, and his annual concerts at the Plaza de Toros in Mexico City defined the largest recurring live music event in Mexican cultural life for four decades. His 2009 retirement concert drew 100,000 people to the Foro Sol in the largest paid audience in Mexican music history.

The most successful Latin American songwriter of the 20th century, Juan Gabriel wrote over 1,800 songs including Amor Eterno and Hasta que te Conocí and performed them with an outrageously camp, gender-fluid theatrical style that was revolutionary in the machismo context of Mexican popular culture. His death in 2016 prompted three days of national mourning and the simultaneous release of a posthumous album that debuted at number one in 12 countries.

The creator of the bolero as a sophisticated Mexican art form, Lara composed over 700 songs including Granada, María Bonita, and Veracruz that became standards of the Latin romantic canon performed by Plácido Domingo, Frank Sinatra, and every major Mexican singer of the 20th century. His marriage to María Félix — Mexico's most glamorous film star — made them the most culturally significant celebrity couple in Mexican history.

The Queen of Tejano Music, Selena built the largest female fanbase in Mexican-American music and was in the process of crossing over to mainstream English-language pop when she was murdered at 23 in 1995 — an event that generated more vigils, flowers, and public grief in Mexico and Texas than any celebrity death since JFK. Her influence on the Latinx identity of the following generation and on contemporary artists including Beyoncé is incalculable.

The most innovative and critically acclaimed Mexican rock group in history, Café Tacvba fused punk, ranchera, cumbia, norteño, and electronic music into a distinctively Mexican alternative rock sound across their 1994 album Re — consistently ranked the finest Mexican rock album ever recorded in international music criticism. The band's refusal of commercial compromise over three decades has made them the reference point for artistic integrity in Mexican popular music.

The most commercially successful female norteño artist in history, La Diva de la Banda sold over 15 million albums in a career that explicitly addressed domestic violence, immigration, and female sexuality in a genre controlled by male artists and perspectives. Her death in a 2012 plane crash produced the largest outpouring of public grief for a cultural figure in recent Mexican history.

Guadalajara's rock superstars are the best-selling Latin rock band in history with over 40 million albums sold and 22 Latin Grammy Awards — more than any other rock act in the Spanish-speaking world. Their 1994 album ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? remains the best-selling Spanish-language rock album of all time and their environmental activism through the Selva Negra Foundation makes them the most politically engaged mainstream Mexican music act.

The most beloved figure in Mexican Golden Age cinema and music, Pedro Infante's ranchera and bolero recordings from the 1940s and 1950s remain among the best-selling Mexican music catalog in history and his death in a 1957 plane crash was Mexico's most publicly mourned celebrity loss until Jenni Rivera in 2012. His films and songs continue to define the idealized masculine ideal in traditional Mexican popular culture.

Costa Rican-born but wholly adopted by Mexico, Vargas's raw interpretations of rancheras — performed in indigenous garb with a poncho and mezcal glass — brought a radical female autonomy and openly lesbian identity to a genre defined by male machismo. Her late-career renaissance, when she resumed performing at age 81 after decades of alcoholism, resulted in recordings that critics placed among the most emotionally authentic in Mexican music history.

El Rey del Ranchera — the uncontested king of Mexican regional music — sold over 50 million albums, won three Grammy and nine Latin Grammy awards, and his annual concerts at the Plaza de Toros in Mexico City defined the largest recurring live music event in Mexican cultural life for four decades. His 2009 retirement concert drew 100,000 people to the Foro Sol in the largest paid audience in Mexican music history.

The most successful Latin American songwriter of the 20th century, Juan Gabriel wrote over 1,800 songs including Amor Eterno and Hasta que te Conocí and performed them with an outrageously camp, gender-fluid theatrical style that was revolutionary in the machismo context of Mexican popular culture. His death in 2016 prompted three days of national mourning and the simultaneous release of a posthumous album that debuted at number one in 12 countries.

The creator of the bolero as a sophisticated Mexican art form, Lara composed over 700 songs including Granada, María Bonita, and Veracruz that became standards of the Latin romantic canon performed by Plácido Domingo, Frank Sinatra, and every major Mexican singer of the 20th century. His marriage to María Félix — Mexico's most glamorous film star — made them the most culturally significant celebrity couple in Mexican history.

The Queen of Tejano Music, Selena built the largest female fanbase in Mexican-American music and was in the process of crossing over to mainstream English-language pop when she was murdered at 23 in 1995 — an event that generated more vigils, flowers, and public grief in Mexico and Texas than any celebrity death since JFK. Her influence on the Latinx identity of the following generation and on contemporary artists including Beyoncé is incalculable.

The most innovative and critically acclaimed Mexican rock group in history, Café Tacvba fused punk, ranchera, cumbia, norteño, and electronic music into a distinctively Mexican alternative rock sound across their 1994 album Re — consistently ranked the finest Mexican rock album ever recorded in international music criticism. The band's refusal of commercial compromise over three decades has made them the reference point for artistic integrity in Mexican popular music.

The most commercially successful female norteño artist in history, La Diva de la Banda sold over 15 million albums in a career that explicitly addressed domestic violence, immigration, and female sexuality in a genre controlled by male artists and perspectives. Her death in a 2012 plane crash produced the largest outpouring of public grief for a cultural figure in recent Mexican history.

Guadalajara's rock superstars are the best-selling Latin rock band in history with over 40 million albums sold and 22 Latin Grammy Awards — more than any other rock act in the Spanish-speaking world. Their 1994 album ¿Dónde Jugarán los Niños? remains the best-selling Spanish-language rock album of all time and their environmental activism through the Selva Negra Foundation makes them the most politically engaged mainstream Mexican music act.