Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (pronounced [(t)Sa'kira isa'bel meba'rak ri'pol]; English: ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer, songwriter, and dancer. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she began performing in school, demonstrating Latin American, Arabic, and rock and roll influences and belly dancing abilities. Shakira's first studio albums, Magia and Peligro, failed to attain commercial success in the 1990s; however, she rose to prominence in Latin America with her major-label debut, Pies Descalzos (1996), and her fourth album, Donde Estan los Ladrones? (1998).

Shakira has received numerous awards and recognition for her work. According to Sony, Shakira is the highest-selling Colombian artist of all time, having sold between 50 and 60 million records.  According to Yahoo!, her single "Hips Don't Lie" is the best-selling single of the last decade (2000's). Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems said that "Hips Don't Lie" was the most-played pop song in a single week in American radio history. It was played 9,637 times in one week. Shakira became the first artist in the history of the Billboard charts to earn the coveted number one spots on both the Top 40 Mainstream and Latin Chart in the same week doing so with "Hips Don't Lie". Additionally, she is the only artist from South America to reach the number-one spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the Australian ARIA chart, and the UK Singles Chart.  Her song "La Tortura" at one time held the record for Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks chart, appearing at number-one more than any other single with a total of 25 non-consecutive weeks, a record currently held by the Enrique Iglesias song "Bailando" with 41 weeks. Nokia stated in 2010, that there were more Shakira music downloads in the prior year than for any other Latino artist in the last five years, and She Wolf topped the Top 10 Latino downloads. In 2010, she was ranked number five on the 'Online Video's Most Viral Artists of 2010' with 404,118,932 views. She has become a YouTube sensation having surpassed 12 billion views on the website with "Chantaje accounting for over 1.9 billion views and "Waka Waka" accounting for over 1.6 billion views, and her channel is currently the 35th most subscribed on YouTube.  In 2011, Shakira was honored at the Latin Grammys as 2011's Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year. She also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6270 Hollywood Blvd. Originally, she was to be given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004, but she turned the offer down. In 2012, she received the honor of Chevalier De L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. In 2014, Shakira became the first musical act to perform three times at the FIFA World Cup.

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