Shakira is Worth $300 Million
She’s the woman whose hips don’t lie — an admirable trait in any body part. She is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (just ‘Shakira’ to me and you), the talented singer born in Barranquilla, Colombia, who has amassed a $300-million fortune. But it’s not just because of those hips and her voice; her success goes beyond the recording industry, as you will see here in this look at the financial world of Shakira.
| Full Name | Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll |
| Profession | Singer-songwriter, Record producer, Actress |
| Net Worth | $300 million |
| Birthday | February 2, 1977 (Aquarius) |
| Nationality | Colombian |
| Height | 5’2″ (157 cm) |
| Relationship Status | Separated (as of 2023) |
A Belly Dancer Becomes Pop Royalty: Shakira’s Early Career and Initial Breakthrough
Shakira, being the natural talent that she is, began belly dancing and writing songs at the age of eight. Within a couple of years, she was winning talent shows and making a name for herself in her hometown of Barranquilla.
Shakira Mebarak is half Arab. Shakira has been belly dancing since she was 4 years old https://t.co/AJ8wjFRsPM pic.twitter.com/QxughlrN1j
— DarkShadow (@44darkwolfx) May 17, 2023
She was making a name for herself beyond the town’s borders, too. She signed record deal with Sony Music Colombia when she was just 13. The sales figures for her first two albums, Magia (1991) and Peligro (1993), were disappointing. Perhaps this is why she was granted more creative freedom with her third album, Pies Descalzos, which was released in 1995. Here is where her signature sound was born. Suddenly her star quality became apparent and this was reflected in the album’s success, reaching the top of Billboard‘s Latin charts.
Shakira’s unique blend of Arabic, Latin, and rock influences turned the heads of music lovers, and it wasn’t long before she was selling out stadiums all over the world, and has become the biggest-selling Colombian artist of all time.
From Colombia With Love: Shakira’s Revenue From Her Main Career
Shakira’s main source of revenue is her fantastic record sales. She’s sold around 10 million albums just in the U.S., and around 70 million globally. This makes her not only Colombia’s top-selling artist, but also one of the world’s most successful female artists, period.
After signing with Sony Music Colombia when she was only 13, she signed a major deal with Epic Records (a Sony subsidiary) in 2006. They asked for two more albums (one in English, one in Spanish) and a compilation of previous releases.
Shakira also earns a considerable amount from her concerts. She personally makes around $1.5 million a show, with each stop generating around $2.2 million. These paychecks have gone a long way in building Shakira’s $300-million net worth.
Business Scents: Revenue From Shakira’s Business Ventures
Aside from her talents both in singing and songwriting, Shakira has lucrative business deals as well that pad her bank account.
The singer owns a Malta-based company called Tournesol Limited, which is worth about $3.3 million. She has also launched her own perfumes lines, including ‘S by Shakira’ and ‘S by Shakira Eau Florale’, which made its official debut at the Champs-Élysées Sephora store in Paris, France.
Sha has made herself known in Hollywood, lending her voice to Gazelle in the smash hit Zootopia in 2016, and hosting NBC’s dance competition series “Dancing with Myself”.
And that $300-million net worth has allowed her to invest in her personal passion projects, including donating to the Magic Spoon cereal company in June 2022. She also invested in Japanese company Rakuten, a cash-back conglomerate, in 2017, and helped finalize a $223-million sponsorship deal for FC Barcelona.
Recently, she sold 100% of her music publishing rights to UK-based Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which contributed massively to her net worth.
Living it Up: Shakira’s Swanky Stuff and Giving Back Game
Though coming from humble beginnings, Shakira has forged a successful career that has allowed her to live large.
In 2001, she acquired a $1.1-million mansion in Florida’s La Gorce Island, and sold it four years later for $1.5 million. She then purchased a deluxe Miami Beach mansion for over $3 million. And while the relationship did not last, she still maintains a luxury property — complete with seven bedrooms, two kitchens, a pool, and a home gym — with ex-boyfriend Gerard Piqué in Barcelona, Spain, worth about $5.9 million.
But her real estate listings don’t stop at homes. Shakira has a 12-acre farm in Uruguay, a vacation spot in Cyprus, and a $15-million private island in the Bahamas.
If you took a look inside the garages of those properties, you might find Shakira’s collection of cars, which includes a Mercedes Benz SL550, a Tesla Model S, an Audi A7 Sportback and Q7, a BMW X6, and another Mercedes Benz SLK 250. Not to mention the $20-million private Learjet 60XR she owns with Piqué, though that might need a slightly bigger parking spot.
Shakira has also invested in digital art, and has partnered with artist BossLogic to create the La Caldera collection, a series of NFTs depicting the Colombian singer as a warrior in a futuristic world called Caloris.
When she isn’t earning money or investing it, Shakira likes to give some back. Shakira has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 2003, raising awareness of the struggles of children in third-world countries. She also created the Pies Descalzos Foundation, which helps children affected by violence in Colombia. In 2018, her foundation teamed up with Costa Cruises to build a school in Colombia.
Shakira’s Personal Life
Shakira had a Catholic upbringing, having attended Catholic schools. She interrupted that education when her career took off at a young age but returned to complete her education and earn her high school diploma.
In 2000, Shakira started seeing Argentinian lawyer Antonio de la Rúa. The two dated for over a decade. Following the breakup, in 2011, she dated Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, with whom she had two children: Milan, born in 2013, and Sasha, born in 2015. Despite a relatively difficult break-up in 2022, the two have been amicable recently and are regularly seen together with their children.
These Government Docs Don’t Lie: Major Events and Controversies
Despite her success and celebrity status, Shakira is not immune to the taxman. The singer found herself in serious legal troubles, being accused by the Spanish government in 2018 of not paying $15.9 million in taxes between 2012 and 2014. News that she was indicted with six counts of tax fraud went international. The debate over her residency and taxes has turned into a legal battle that could potentially ended in large fines or even jail time. In 2022, the prosecutor asked for an eight-year prison sentence for the six tax-fraud charges; the case is still ongoing as of 2023.
