Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, on February 2, 1977. Her father was Lebanese-Colombian, her mother Colombian of Spanish and Italian descent. She wrote her first song at age eight and signed her first record deal with Sony Music Colombia at thirteen.

She was a child who belly-danced at school talent shows because her father took her to a Middle Eastern restaurant when she was four and she couldn't stop moving.

Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993) flopped commercially — Shakira was fourteen and sixteen. She's since disowned both albums. But Pies Descalzos (1995) detonated across Latin America — Estoy Aquí and Antología made her the biggest female artist in the Spanish-speaking world.

Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998) went further — Ciega Sordomuda, Ojos Así, Inevitable. The album sold over 10 million copies.

She was 21 and already a legend in half the planet.

Then she learned English. Laundry Service (2001) was the crossover — Whenever, Wherever became a global number one in practically every country with a radio. Underneath Your Clothes followed.

The album sold 13 million copies worldwide. She followed it with two albums simultaneously: Fijación Oral Vol. 1 (Spanish) and Oral Fixation Vol.

2 (English) in 2005. Hips Don't Lie — that Wyclef Jean collaboration — became the best-selling single of the decade, reaching number one in 55 countries. Waka Waka (2010) for the FIFA World Cup became the most-sold World Cup song in history.

And in 2023, after a very public breakup, Bzrp Music Sessions #53 became the most-viewed Latin music video in 24 hours. She turned heartbreak into the biggest Latin song of the year.

Pies Descalzos (June 1995) is where real Shakira begins. Estoy Aquí had that raw, desperate vocal over a rock arrangement that nobody in Latin pop was doing. Antología became one of the most iconic Spanish-language ballads of the '90s — every quinceañera in Latin America played it.

The album sold 5 million copies and established her as the most exciting new voice since Gloria Estefan.

Dónde Están los Ladrones? (September 1998) was the masterpiece of her Spanish era. Ciega, Sordomuda — that neurotic, breathless vocal over a driving beat — showed a songwriter who could make anxiety sound like a hook.

Ojos Así fused Arabic music with rock in a way that felt completely natural, not gimmicky. Inevitable is one of the most beautiful acoustic songs in Latin music. Emilio Estefan produced, and the album sold over 10 million copies.

She was 21.

Laundry Service (November 2001) changed everything. Whenever, Wherever — those Andean pan pipes, that stuttering beat, Shakira in leather pants on a mountaintop — became the biggest song on Earth. It went number one in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, and practically everywhere else.

Underneath Your Clothes was the ballad follow-up. The album sold 13 million copies. The girl from Barranquilla was now the biggest Latin artist in the world.

The twin releases of 2005 — Fijación Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2 — showed she could dominate in both languages simultaneously.

La Tortura (with Alejandro Sanz) was the Spanish hit — number one in 25 countries without an English version. Then Hips Don't Lie rewrote the record books — number one in 55 countries, the best-selling single of the 2000s decade. She Wolf (2009) went electronic and divisive.

Sale el Sol (2010) brought the hits back — Loca, Rabiosa, and Waka Waka for the South Africa World Cup, which became the most-sold FIFA anthem ever.

After the self-titled album (2014) and El Dorado (2017) — which won Best Latin Pop Album at the Grammys — Shakira went through a very public separation from footballer Gerard Piqué. She turned the pain into Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024). Bzrp Music Sessions #53 was the nuclear opening — 63 million YouTube views in 24 hours.

TQG with Karol G. Te Felicito with Rauw Alejandro. Monotonía with Ozuna.

She proved that at 47, she could outstream artists half her age.

Shakira is the best-selling Latin female artist of all time. That's not hyperbole — it's RIAA-certified fact. Over 80 million records worldwide.

Three Grammys. Twelve Latin Grammys. The only artist to have a FIFA World Cup anthem (Waka Waka) and the decade's best-selling single (Hips Don't Lie) on her resume.

Her real legacy is the crossover itself. Before Shakira, Latin artists who sang in English were expected to abandon Spanish. She refused — Fijación Oral Vol.

1 came out the same day as Oral Fixation Vol. 2. She proved you could be bilingual and commercially dominant.

Every Latin crossover since — Bad Bunny singing in Spanish on a number one album, Rosalía blending flamenco with pop — owes something to the path Shakira carved.

The belly dancing. The vocal acrobatics. The yodeling thing she does that nobody can replicate.

The way she makes every genre sound like it was invented in Barranquilla. And at 47, after everything, Bzrp Session #53 proved she could still make the entire planet press play. Las mujeres ya no lloran — las mujeres facturan.