LOS ANGELES — The usual trappings of the arena rock concert were on full display at the Staples Center here on a recent evening. The lead singer professed his love for the capacity crowd. The adoring fans sang along with every lyric. The drummer tossed his drumsticks high above his head, jumping in and out of his chair to snatch them before returning to the beat and setting off even more declarations of devotion.


But typical this concert was not. Entire families, grandparents included, filled the arena. Every few songs someone in the audience unfurled a large Mexican flag. Hardly a word of English was spoken or sung from the stage. And the band, a rock group called Maná from Guadalajara, Mexico, was the proud record holder of the most sold-out shows, 11, in Staples Center history, surpassing Britney Spears.


For years music executives have assumed that Latin American musicians would have to record in English to achieve major success in the United States, like Shakira or Ricky Martin. But Maná, with its mix of love songs and more pointed political material about immigration and the environment, has been playing sold-out concerts across the United States for decades, selling millions of records in the process. And while it has attracted fans with no connection to Latin America with its Police-style reggae and pop-influenced rock, the band has no plans to begin singing in English.


Fher Olvera, the lead singer who writes most of the group’s songs, said in an interview before going onstage at the Staples Center that he had considered writing in English but that several other musicians, including his friend Chris Martin of Coldplay, had urged him to stick to his native Spanish, which feels more comfortable to him.


“Maybe we will change our mind, but we think that people can love the music even if they do not understand all the words,” Mr. Olvera said.


Maná has a mass appeal nearly unrivaled in the Latin pop world. Since releasing its first album in 1990, it has won four Grammy Awards, collected seven Latin Grammy Awards, produced the fastest-selling Spanish-language rock album and recorded a hit with Carlos Santana. Its most recent album, “Drama y Luz,” has been on Billboard’s top Latin pop album chart for more than a year.


From Maná’s perspective, crossing over may be an anachronism. It has simply redefined what crossover means.


“This is like another hometown for us,” said Alex González, the band’s Miami-born drummer, whose background is Colombian and Cuban but who has enthusiastically embraced Mexican culture. His dressing room was decorated with Virgin of Guadalupe candles and colorful skulls used to celebrate the Day of the Dead throughout Mexico. “We know we represent something for people, of where they come from and who they are.”


While Maná’s success may be most evident in Los Angeles, the band is hardly a local phenomenon. It sold out Madison Square Garden in an earlier leg of its yearlong, 80-show tour. And this summer Maná will headline festivals in Dallas, Madrid and Milan.


In some circles Maná has been disparaged as fresas, translated as strawberries, a term used to describe bands viewed as lightweight pop-rock groups. But if some see its love songs and optimistic (even utopian) visions of environmentalism as cheesy, that hardly seems to bother its fans. They delight in Mr. Olvera’s melodramatic onstage antics, as when he places his hand over his chest as he sings about his broken heart. At the Staples Center show, when a woman was pulled onto a small elevated stage and serenaded with a medley of folksy tunes, the audience eagerly sang along.


That helps explain the band’s fan base, which includes second- and third-generation immigrants whose parents and grandparents came from Mexico decades ago.


“They’ve figured out how to build new fans without alienating older ones,” said Flavio Morales, a senior vice president at mun2, Telemundo’s music channel. He added: “They’re a band that purists love to hate, but the truth is they transcend a lot of different groups. They are just as popular here as they are back home, and at the same time you have people going to their shows who are just as likely to go see Kanye West.”


Ask the band members if they consider themselves wholesome and they bristle.


“We’re talking about difficult subjects up there, like struggles and immigration and human rights,” Mr. González said. “That’s not what I would call wholesome, but it is really important for everyone of every age to hear about it.”


These days the band’s most overtly political song is “Latino Tu, Latino Yo,” which rails against marginalizing Latin Americans and urges listeners not to forget their roots while proclaiming that there is “only one America.” During concerts the screen flashes with flags from every Latin American country and photos from pro-immigration rallies.


The band is joining with the advocacy group Voto Latino to try to register new voters who attend their concerts. Although Mr. González is the band’s only American citizen, Mr. Olvera said he wanted to encourage Latinos to vote in the coming presidential election.


“For me this is about humanity, and saying that we should have our voices heard too, not just be painted as the evil people contributing to the problems in this country,” Mr. Olvera said. “The people that come to our shows are the people who make this country run every day.”