Shakira was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, to William Mebarak Chadid, a businessman and writer of Lebanese descent, and Nidia Ripoll Torrado, a Colombian homemaker. Her Lebanese heritage on her father’s side introduced her early to Middle Eastern music and belly dancing, elements she later folded into her stage performances alongside Colombian folk styles such as cumbia and vallenato. She began writing songs as a child and signed her first recording contract with Sony Music Colombia at 13 years old, releasing her debut album, Magia, in 1991.

Shakira’s first two albums, Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993), sold modestly, and she briefly stepped away from music to focus on her studies before returning with Pies Descalzos in 1995, which became a major hit across Latin America and Spain. Its follow-up, Donde Estan los Ladrones (1998), cemented her as one of the biggest Spanish-language pop stars in the world. Her English-language crossover came with Laundry Service in 2001, which produced the international hits “Whenever, Wherever” and “Underneath Your Clothes” and opened up the US and European markets that would define the next phase of her career.

Photo: Andres Arranz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)

Shakira followed up her crossover success with Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation Vol. 2, both released in 2005. The lead single from that era, “Hips Don’t Lie” featuring Wyclef Jean, became a global phenomenon, reaching number one in more than 50 countries. In 2010 she recorded “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” the official song of the FIFA World Cup held in South Africa, extending her reach into sports and global pop culture. She released El Dorado in 2017, served as a coach on The Voice, and headlined the Super Bowl LIV halftime show alongside Jennifer Lopez in February 2020, a performance watched by roughly 103 million viewers. Her 2024 album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, launched a world tour that became the highest-grossing tour ever by a Latin artist.

Photo: elisfkc2 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Music-industry outlets have consistently ranked Shakira among the highest-earning female musicians in the world in years when she is actively touring, with income drawn from ticket sales, streaming and record royalties, endorsement contracts, and business investments combined. Her earnings fluctuate significantly between touring years and non-touring years, a pattern common among major recording artists, but the scale of the Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour has pushed her recent annual totals well into eight figures.

Shakira has sold an estimated 80 million records worldwide, making her the best-selling Latin female artist in history. Her touring history includes the Oral Fixation Tour, The Sun Comes Out World Tour, and the El Dorado World Tour, all of which ranked among the top-grossing Latin tours of their respective years. The Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour, which launched in February 2025, has become by far her biggest commercial success on the road: touring-industry trackers report the tour surpassing $421 million in gross revenue and 3.3 million tickets sold across roughly 86 shows, making it the highest-grossing tour ever undertaken by a Latin artist.

Shakira has held long-running global endorsement partnerships with Pepsi, one of her most enduring commercial relationships, alongside deals with Activia, Oral-B, Puma, Beats by Dre, and Mastercard over different stages of her career. These campaigns have typically paired her with major international product launches and advertising pushes, reflecting her standing as one of the most commercially bankable Latin artists in the world.

Beyond music, Shakira has built a diversified investment portfolio. She was an early investor in Rovio Entertainment, the Finnish company behind Angry Birds, and in 2020 she invested in SkinnyDipped, a Seattle-based nut snack company, to support its retail expansion. She has also backed High Brew Coffee, an organic cold-brew company, and has her own consumer brands, including the Isima haircare line and the S by Shakira fragrance collection, alongside a baby-products partnership with Fisher-Price. She also founded and remains actively involved with the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a nonprofit that funds education for disadvantaged children in Colombia.

Shakira and her former partner, Gerard Pique, shared a complex of three homes in Esplugues de Llobregat near Barcelona; one of the properties sold in 2025 for more than EUR3 million, while the remaining two have been listed at roughly EUR11 million each. After relocating to South Florida following her split from Pique, Shakira has owned a long-held Miami-area mansion, which real estate outlets have reported was listed for sale for approximately $11.6 million. She is also reported to hold additional real estate and vehicles as part of her broader asset base.