Bad Bunny has unveiled a 21-show residency in his native Puerto Rico at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico, following the release of his latest album.

The residency spans 21 July to 24 August and will see Bad Bunny, real name Benito Martínez Ocasio, play Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the stint. The first nine shows will be exclusively reserved for Puerto Rico residents, with an in-person presale beginning tomorrow (15 January).

“I’m in Puerto Rico, I’m home, having fun and, to be honest, I don’t want to leave,” he says (as translated by Billboard) in his announcement video.

His historic Residencia en El Choli, the most expansive at the 18,000-capacity arena known locally as “El Choli”, is aptly named No me quiero ir de aquí (I don’t want to leave here).

Further international tour dates are expected later this year, including stops in Mexico, Brazil and Spain.

“Thanks to music and the love you give me through my music, I’ve had the privilege of travelling to sing in different places of the world. I appreciate and love to do it,” he continues.

“There are places I for sure will return to like Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia. And some I’ve never been to but would like to visit, like Brazil and Japan. And there are places I haven’t been to in a long time, like Italy, London, Spain, I know, and I promise before the year ends, I’ll tell you the date and time I will be visiting,” he hints.

“I’m in Puerto Rico, I’m home, having fun and, to be honest, I don’t want to leave”

Bunny released his sixth studio album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, earlier this month. The Spanish-language album, which debuted at no. 2 on the Billboard 200, is the global superstar’s recommitment to his native island as explained to the New York Times. The 17-track album was created entirely in the country and also features all-Puerto Rican collaborators.

Despite “El Choli” being located in the capital San Juan, in-person presale for the first six shows will happen across the island while presale for the final three resident-exclusive shows will be held online, according to Ticketera.

Demand for the event will be sky high, with the Reggaeton star’s last outings shattering multiple records. In 2022, Bad Bunny usurped Ed Sheeran as the highest-grossing touring artist in a calendar year, selling over 3 million tickets across his El Último Tour del Mundo North American tour and the World’s Hottest Tour stadium trek across Latin and North America.

The Grammy Award-winning artist last visited Europe on his 2019 X 100pre Tour.

The ASM Global-managed “El Choli” celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Booking manager Melanie García Vélez told IQ that local artists — like Bad Bunny, Ricky Martin and Daddy Yankee — are a major draw for Spanish-speaking artists and fans to stop by the country.

“We are blessed to have many internationally recognised Puerto Rican artists; this helps us position the island strategically in the industry. This opportunity is often used by international artists who use the Coliseo to meet and connect with their Latino audience, giving them the opportunity to visit other Spanish-speaking venues,” she revealed in IQ‘s 2024 Global Promoters Report.

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Ed Sheeran was presented with an award plaque by the Coliseo de Puerto Rico on Sunday night after his sold-out show in the US territory.

Sheeran’s third headlining concert trek, the ÷ (pronounced ‘Divide’) tour, is currently winding its way across Latin America ahead of his return to the UK on 22 June for The O2’s tenth birthday shows.

The Move Concerts-promoted Puerto Rico show, which drew 15,000 fans to the SMG-operated Coliseo, was well received on the island, with local paper El Nuevo Día praising Sheeran as a “complete showman” (“It is incredible that a solo singer, armed only with his guitar, can generate as much passion and energy as Sheeran did,” writes reporter Rafael Vega Curry) and hailing the show’s production, which “magnificently amplified the emotional effect of the music”.

Puerto Rico is growing in importance as a touring destination, with SMG rival AEG planning to open a 6,000-cap. music and entertainment venue in early 2019.

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