CSPC: Shakira Popularity Analysis

Physical Singles Sales

As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.

Pies Descalzos (1995) – 4,000 equivalent albums

All Singles – 15,000

Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998) – 35,000 equivalent albums

Ojos Así – 110,000
Remaining Singles – 5,000

Laundry Service (2001) – 1,663,000 equivalent albums

Whenever, Wherever – 3,440,000
Underneath Your Clothes – 1,420,000
Objection (Tango) – 630,000
The One – 50,000
Remaining Singles – 2,000

Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005) – 156,000 equivalent albums

La Tortura – 520,000

Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005) – 363,000 equivalent albums

Don’t Bother – 170,000
Hips Don’t Lie – 970,000
Illegal – 70,000

She Wolf (2009) – 39,000 equivalent albums

She Wolf – 100,000
Did It Again – 10,000
Gispy – 20,000

Sale el Sol (2010) – 27,000 equivalent albums

Loca – 80,000
Rabiosa – 10,000

Shakira. (2014) – 6,000 equivalent albums

Can’t Remember to Forget You – 10,000
Dare (La La La) – 10,000

Orphan Album – 243,000 equivalent albums

Beautiful Liar – 330,000
Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) – 420,000
Je L’Aime A Mourir – 50,000
Get It Started – 10,000

During the 90s, album sales were fairly healthy in Latin America but singles sales were almost non-existent. Most Shakira earlier singles only sold a few units. By the time Whenever, Wherever got issued, the North American market had collapsed too. This being said, she did wonders in Europe, selling almost 1 million units of that song in each France and Germany.

All together, Shakira sold close to 8,5 million physical singles. It surely doesn’t look that impressive. In reality, Whenever, Wherever is one of the very top selling post-2000 songs in this format. What’s more, Hips Don’t Lie is just as well placed among post-2005 songs. It isn’t all as very few songs released since 2010 can challenge Waka Waka in that field. Each of those three singles got historical sales in the format with their figures being limited only due to market constraints. Of course, when making those statements I’m not taking into account Japanese singles from artists like AKB48 which are very specific.