Gloria Estefan makes Latin chart history

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Gloria Estefan
Image caption,

Gloria Estefan's albums includes 1989 crossover hit Cuts Both Ways

Singer Gloria Estefan has become the first female artist in the history of the US Latin singles rundown to enter at number one.

The 54-year-old star topped the Billboard chart with Hotel Nacional, the second song from Miss Little Havana, her first album in four years.

Only male singers including Ricky Martin have previously achieved the feat in the chart, which began in 1986.

Estefan has sold 90 million albums during her five-decade career.

The Cuban-American singer came to prominence performing with the Miami Sound Machine in the late 1970s.

She went on to score a series of hit albums and singles, including Don't Wanna Lose You which was a number one hit on the mainstream US chart in 1989.

Estefan has collected seven Grammy awards and in 2008 was honoured with a special Latin Grammy award for her musical achievements.

The singer's breakthrough success on the Latin chart is being attributed to very strong airplay on a leading group of Spanish language radio stations in the US.

The song, with its mixture of Spanish and English lyrics, is Estefan's 15th chart-topper on Billboard's Latin countdown.

It becomes only the 11th song since 1986 to debut the chart in the top spot.

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