Jon Secada "Stop"

As Rob Thomas and Santana's "Smooth" dominated the radio well into Y2K, Jon Secada followed suit with his spicy uptempo "Stop". With an abundance of "Latin Explosion" artists like Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony and Christina Aguilera's all over the radio at the time, "Stop" got lost in the shuffle and the song barely registered on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Ricky Martin "Livin' La Vida Loca"

Credited with sparking the "Latin Explosion", Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" even pushed its way onto Adult Contemporary radio stations -- which was quite the crazy feat considering soft rock radio stations rarely embraced uptempo songs at the time. Martin's brassy and sweaty dance song peaked at #18 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Michael Bolton "Go the Distance"

What do Michael Bolton and Ricky Martin have in common? Well, aside from being loved by ladies of the '90s, the two shared the ballad "Go the Distance" for the Disney-animated movie Hercules. Bolton performed the English version of the song that played over the movie's final credits while Martin performed a Spanish version of "Go the Distance". The song marks the last time Bolton turned up on the Top 40 Chart.

Cher "Strong Enough"

Radio at the end of the 1990s featured hip-hop (Brandy, TLC, Destiny's Child), the "Latin Explosion" (Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Santana), and Cher. The ageless wonder returned to Top 40 radio with her mega-hit "Believe". That song ended 1999 as the #1 single of the year. Lost in the shuffle was her follow-up hit to "Believe" called "Strong Enough". Aside from a home on the radio, dance clubs couldn't get enough of it. With its disco-dance flavor, "Strong Enough" played like an updated version of Donna Summer's "MacArthur Park".

Ricky Martin & Christina Aguilera "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely"

It was 2001 and the only way to get a copy of Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera's monster duet "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" was to buy the song's album or record it off the radio.  Why?  The song was never released as a CD single -- meaning you couldn't go out and buy the song (or in today's terms: you couldn't just download the single from iTunes).  The song wound up being one of the biggest songs of the year and a real head-scratcher as the record companies who would soon lose their grip on CD sales with the rise of Napster and illegal downloads.

Ricky Martin - "Shake Your Bon Bon"

You know that feeling when you really want to watch Caddyshack on Netflix, but they only have is Caddyshack II?  Or how about suffering through Ghostbusters II when all you wanted was to see the original?  That sums up Ricky Martin's "Shake Your Bon Bon".  It was one of those songs that tried to capture "Livin' La Vida Loca" lighning in a bottle...but instead we were left with Caddyshack II.

Enrique Iglesias - "Escape"

Nowadays Enrique has been busy teaming up with Pitbull, but back in 2001 he was still riding the "Latin Explosion" wave.  With the likes of Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin, Enrique (and his mole--RIP) made a name for himself launching several hit songs including "Escape".

Ricky Martin - "Private Emotion"

Ricky Martin's reign as ruler of the planet was just beginning in 1999.  Ricky's music was all over the radio all across the globe with his English, Spanish, and Spanglish songs.  Adult Contemporary stations shied away from upbeat hits "Shake Your Bon-Bon" and "Livin' La Vida Loca", but quickly picked up on the ballad "She's All I Ever Had".  Ricky's record company tried to go for broke when they released a second ballad called "Private Emotion".  The duet featured Swedish singer Meja and was only a moderate hit (it peaked at #21).  The world returned to normal later in 2000 when Ricky returned with "She Bangs"--a song that would later become synonymous with William Hung.

Ricky Martin - "She's All I Ever Had"

The year 1999 will be remembered for the craziness surrounding Y2K. Wait, you didn't stock up on canned peaches while storing all your money under your mattress? Some folks did. Aside from the Y2K lunacy, 1999 gave us the "Latin Explosion" with names like Santana, Jennifer Lopez, and Ricky Martin dominating the radio. While "Livin' La Vida Loca" has stood the test of time, Martin's follow-up hit "She's All I Ever Had" now sits next to that can of expired cling peaches from your parent's Y2K shelter.