Mon Laferte’s ‘Femme Fatale’ Debuts on Top Latin Pop Albums Chart: ‘It Was Kind of An Exorcism’

Mon Laferte is back in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top Latin Pop Albums chart as Femme Fatale, her 10th studio album, debuts at No. 10 on the chart dated Nov. 8, marking her third top 10 on the ranking.

“One night, I stayed on the terrace of my house, listening to voice notes and reading old texts on my phone,” Mon Laferte tells Billboard. “I finished a bottle of wine, probably smoked a pack of cigarettes, and watched the sunrise. That early morning, I gathered and invented 54 songs. That’s how Femme Fatale began.”

Femme Fatale starts at No. 10 on Top Latin Albums chart with 2,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending Oct. 30, according to Luminate. The album, released Oct. 24 on Sony Music Latin, includes collabs with Conociendo Rusia, Nathy Peluso, Natalia Lafourcade, Silvana Estrada and Tiago IORC.

Of its opening-week total, 1,000 units come from streaming activity, equating to 1.9 million official on-demand streams of the album’s tracks. Another 1,000 units are attributed to traditional album sales, while song sales contribute minimally to the overall sum.

Laferte’s third top 10 on Top Latin Pop Albums follows the No. 9-peaking Norma in 2019. A year earlier, La Trenza earned the Chilean her first entry on any albums ranking. It peaked at No. 4 in May 2018.

Was Laferte surprised to debut in the top 10? “Honestly, not really,” Laferte says. “When I finished Femme Fatale, I realized it was a very personal, even uncomfortable album. To be honest, I didn’t think about the numbers; for me, it was kind of an exorcism. But the fact that it connected with so many people excites me a lot because it means there is an audience ready to look at vulnerability from a different place, without fear or guilt.”

Two weeks prior to Femme Fatale’s drop, Laferte secured her first appearance across multiple Latin songs chart through the Rauw Alejandro collab, “Callejón De Los Secretos.” The song debuted at No. 50 on Hot Latin Songs, plus peaked at Nos. 4 and 9 on Hot Tropical Songs and Tropical Airplay charts, respectively.