Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll signed to Sony Music Colombia at 14, but the breakthrough came with Pies Descalzos in 1995 and Dónde Están los Ladrones? three years later - albums that made her the face of Latin rock across the Americas. Laundry Service in 2001 was the crossover: 13 million copies, sung in English with hips that famously don't lie, and suddenly the door was open for every Latin act that followed. She spent the next two decades stacking number-one albums in both Spanish and English across four separate decades, a streak no other woman had managed, while singles like "Waka Waka" and "Hips Don't Lie" became unavoidable. Billboard named her the top female Latin artist of two consecutive decades, and by 2026 she was up for the Rock Hall. She built schools through the Barefoot Foundation, advised U.S. presidents on Hispanic education, and collected a French knighthood along the way - all while writing nearly every song she ever sang.