Hot 100 First-Timers: Laura Pausini Debuts With Rauw Alejandro Collab ‘Se Fue’

Laura Pausini first appeared on Billboard’s charts 30 years ago and has been a consistent hitmaker ever since. But she finally lands her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 this week with her new collaboration with Rauw Alejandro, “Se Fue.”

The song debuts at No. 82 on the Nov. 30-dated Hot 100 almost entirely from its streaming sum: 5.8 million U.S. streams Nov. 15-21, its opening week, according to Luminate. Pausini and Alejandro are co-billed on the song from Alejandro’s new album, Cosa Nuestra, which opens at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 with 67,000 equivalent album units, marking Alejandro’s first top 10.

“Se Fue” is a reworking of Pausini’s 1994 song, also titled “Se Fue,” which hit No. 24 on the Hot Latin Songs chart in January 1995. She first released the song in her native Italian, under the title “Non c’è,” in 1993, and then in Spanish as “Se Fue” in 1994. The Spanish version became Pausini’s second Hot Latin Songs hit and became popular in Spanish dance clubs. Commemorating its legacy, she released a new version with Marc Anthony that reached No. 25 on Hot Latin Songs in April 2014.

Pausini, from Faenza, Italy, rose to fame in 1993 when she won the Newcomers portion of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival. She arrived on Billboard’s charts the following year with her single “La Soledad,” which reached No. 22 on Hot Latin Songs.

Pausini has charted 22 Hot Latin Songs hits, including four top 10s: “Amores Extraños” (No. 7 peak in 1995), “Las Cosas Que Vives” (No. 6, 1997), “Víveme” (No. 6, 2005) and “Como Si No Nos Hubieramos Amado” (No. 10, 2006). Before this week, she last appeared on the chart in 2014 with her own “Se Fue” with Anthony.

Pausini has also tallied 14 titles on the Top Latin Albums chart, including two top 10s: Lo Mejor de Laura Pausini-Volveré Junto a Ti (No. 9, 2002) and Similares (No. 6, 2015). The latter was nominated for best Latin pop album at the 2017 Grammy Awards. She won the trophy in 2006 for her album Escucha. She has also won four Latin Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award – the latter for best original song in 2021 for “Io sì (Seen)” from The Life Ahead. The track was also nominated for best original song at the 93rd Academy Awards.

Pausini was named the 2023 Person of the Year by the Latin Recording Academy. “I didn’t think that was possible for me,” she told Billboard at the time, noting her Italian heritage. “I didn’t expect it at all and I am very grateful that I am the first [honoree] who was not born in a Latin American country [or in Spain]. But, for 30 years I always say that I am the most Mexican Italian, the most Argentine, the most Spanish, the most everything, because I have grown up spending many days of my life with you. Maybe not my blood, but my soul, my ideas, my ideals, I have made them grow with yours, and I feel Latin.”

“Our Person of the Year is a genuine, authentic artist with a deep sensitivity, who has turned her lyrics into songs of all time,” said Manuel Abud, CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, during the gala last year. “Winner of a Grammy and four Latin Grammys, Laura has always remained faithful to her romantic style and to a tireless search for musical excellence. And what you won’t find in any biography, but we all know, is that she is a great girl.”