"We just started hearing ... all summer that it made ... every dinner party, every lawn party, every family outing, whereby they put it on, and they just loved each cut," Davis said. "When you've got that combination of great reviews coupled with hits coupled with word of mouth, that's what keeps building it. Nothing more than that."

But, Davis continued, "It's certainly not an accident."

The buzz reached its height Thursday, when the single "Smooth" (RealAudio excerpt) climbed to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, becoming Santana's highest-charting single ever. That fulfilled bandleader Carlos Santana's desire for a hit, which led him to sign with Davis' label.

After years of less-accessible, new-age-influenced albums, Santana and his wife decided to work with Davis again "so that we could get into radio again, because radio is the frequency that a lot of young people are tuning in to," the guitarist said shortly before the album came out.

Santana said he believes people are in need of spiritual healing, and he sought airplay not so much to sell records, but to carry his message of universal love to more listeners.

To get that airplay, Davis, who is credited as co-producer with Santana on Supernatural, said he told the artist, "The best way to approach this would be for you to do half the album in a vintage way — vintage meaning the 'Oye Como Va' way, so that each of your hot Latin or Spanish-language cuts would be really in the best of that tradition — looking obviously to expose it to the incredibly musical virtuosity that you've got, but also really looking to be on the radio with every single cut."

"Oye Como Va" (RealAudio excerpt), a Tito Puente cover from Santana's Abraxas (1970), was one of the early-'70s Latin-rock staples that sealed Santana's reputation. It was also one of the band's last giant pop hits.

"[For] the other half of the album," Davis recalled saying from his New York office, "I'd ... suggest collaborations that made sense for something that would be special."

The album's commercial success has been driven by "Smooth," a sultry, Latin-flavored cut featuring Matchbox 20 singer Rob Thomas. Its sexy video, starring Santana's fingers, Thomas' face and the bellybuttons of a harem of women, is in heavy rotation at MTV and VH1.

The song has transcended radio formats. According to this week's issue of the trade magazine Radio & Records, "Smooth" is the most-played track at adult-alternative stations in the U.S., ahead of songs by the much younger Melissa Etheridge and Sugar Ray. It's also #5 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart, where its competitors include pop upstarts Tal Bachman and Lou Bega; #9 on the Rock chart, sandwiched between veterans Lynyrd Skynyrd and Tom Petty; and #9 on the Pop chart.

The album is #5 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has sold more than 1.2 million copies.

"['Smooth'] is the number one most requested record in the studio at the moment," said Julie Stoeckel, music director at San Francisco's KLLC-FM, which identifies its format as adult top 40.

"The juxtaposition of Carlos Santana's signature guitar licks and contemporary artists such as Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20 ... makes him more accessible to our listeners, who might not otherwise know him or embrace him," Stoeckel said. "I think 'Smooth' is going to be around for a while. It's just getting started."

Rich Westover, Arista's national promotion coordinator, said getting the song on the radio involved the usual courting ritual — phone calls and visits to stations, "getting them to listen to it, to like it and believe in it." A memorable melody helped, he said.

"I actually heard people singing the ['Smooth'] hook to program directors to show how it's stuck in our heads," Westover said.

Arista first pitched the song to rock stations, then it moved on to mainstream and adult-contemporary stations, Westover said.

In an unusual move, Arista next plans to push two more singles while still working "Smooth." "Maria Maria" (RealAudio excerpt), produced by rapper Wyclef Jean of the Fugees, has been sent to R&B and hip-hop stations. "Put Your Lights On" — which hip-hopper Everlast wrote after a recent heart attack and recorded with Santana — is going to alternative radio.

Davis said Arista also is contemplating pitching the spicy "Corazon Espinado," with Mexican rock superstars Mana, to Latin stations.

"We want every format to be a part of this," he said.

The big-name guests have helped. "Love of My Life," featuring rock bandleader Dave Matthews, and "The Calling," with Santana's classic-rock contemporary Eric Clapton, are getting regular play on rock stations such as KFOG-FM in San Francisco.

"The tracks that we play off this feature the artists we play — Dave Matthews, Eric Clapton, Matchbox 20," KFOG DJ Annalisa Parziale said. "A day doesn't go by without someone wanting to hear some new Santana," she added. "The album is sensual, spiritual and stellar."

The album also fits neatly into a pop environment in which five of the top six songs on the Billboard Hot 100 — including "Smooth," Ricky Martin's "She's All I Ever Had" and Enrique Iglesias' "Bailamos" — have Latin roots.

"Latin stuff has been really big here," said Brian Davis, an assistant buyer at the Amoeba Records store in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. "[Supernatural has been] in our top five every week since it's been out. ... It seems like everyone's buying it. Everyone who's not buying electronica is buying Santana."

Though Santana is no stranger to success, he hadn't had a top-10 single since his cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman" reached #4 in 1971. That was the era of Santana (1969), which is certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and the quadruple-platinum Abraxas.

In the 29 years between Abraxas and Supernatural, the band — which has been a steady concert draw all along — saw seven studio albums turn gold or platinum.

But much of Santana's more recent music leaned toward less-accessible new-age jazz. It didn't do as well among rock record buyers.

"There was certainly a latent interest," Davis said, "because in the same way that he would sell out Radio City [Music Hall in New York], if [audiences] heard something that stoked their interest, they would certainly buy it. To sell a few million, you need hits. Without hits, you can't do it. It sounds simplistic, but that's the answer."