Selena Quintanilla Wins Billboard Award 16 Years After Her Death

Oct 28, 2011

The late Mexican-American singer Selena won the "Digital Download Artist of the Year" award at the Billboard Mexican Music Awards that aired on Telemundo on Thursday night. The singer-songwriter’s life ended right as she became one of the first Spanish-language singers to successfully crossover to the English-market.

"It means a lot that even all these years after her death, she is still so loved," Selena’s father, Abraham Quintanilla, told AARP.

It’s been sixteen years since the singer was murdered, but this isn’t the first award she’s won since her death. Billboard Magazine called Selena the best Latin Artist of the decade in December 1999.

The Billboard Mexican Music Awards are determined by chart performance as chronicled in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com in a 12-month span–August 28, 2010-August 20, 2011.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp featuring Selena.  An album of 10 of her previously unreleased songs will be issued next year.