Shakira’s music career spans diverse styles and collaborations, highlighted by hits like her 2010 World Cup anthem and duets with global stars. This ranking showcases her most impactful songs.
Known for blending genres and delivering catchy melodies, Shakira continues to influence pop music worldwide. Her upcoming performance at the World Cup final underscores her lasting appeal.
20. Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) (ft Freshlyground) (2010)
Of Shakira’s World Cup anthems, it’s the joyfully ludicrous Waka Waka from the 2010 tournament in South Africa that bangs hardest. Featuring Afro-fusion band Freshlyground, the Colombian superstar redraws preened football superstars such as Ronaldo et al as soldiers on a frontline.
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19. Anitta & Shakira – Choka Choka (2026)
A keen collaborator across genres, Shakira links up with Brazilian superstar Anitta on the head-knocking Choka Choka. Fusing baile funk with elements of hip-hop and dance – that siren-like synth sound is an unsubtle call to the dancefloor – it’s a riotous two minutes that implores you to move.
18. Las de la Intuición (2005)
After becoming one of the planet’s biggest superstars via 2001’s debut English-language album Laundry Service, Shakira rented an estate in Madrid to work alone on follow-up Fijación Oral, Vol 1. A celebration of female intuition set to a pulsating synth-line and soft rock backbone, Las de la Intuición is an example of her mastery of easy-breezy melody.
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17. Karol G & Shakira – TQG (2023)
Originally written as a solo track by Karol G, TQG was switched to a duet after the fellow Colombian realised Shakira had also recently been treated poorly by a man. The title’s acronym translates as Too Big for You, and Shakira channels that bolshiness into a verse in which she shrugs at the idea of an ex moving on given she’s literally Shakira.
16. Chantaje (ft Maluma) (2016)
In this reggaeton battle of the sexes, its title translating as Blackmail, Shakira leads her superstar countryman Maluma on a merry dance. Unsure of where he stands, Shakira innocently claims not to be in charge of the relationship, before singing about not belonging to anyone, thank you very much, on the song’s addictive chorus.
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15. Can’t Remember to Forget You (ft Rihanna) (2014)
In the canon of proper superstar pop duets, this Police-esque team up with pre-Anti Rihanna feels strangely overlooked. At the time, Shakira was headed down a bland EDM cul-de-sac (there was a Pitbull collab), so its bouncy reggae, ska horns and sleek new wave came as a surprise. But there’s a lot to enjoy here, not least the pair unleashing their distinctive voices.
14. Ciega, Sordomuda (1998)
Bearing similarities with Estoy Aquí, her 1995 breakout hit, Ciega, Sordomuda (Blind, Deaf and Mute) showcases Shakira’s knack for turning the drama of love into a full-blown epic. Over occasional bursts of mariachi trumpets and galloping pop-rock, Shakira describes herself as “baggy-eyed, scrawny, ugly, unkempt, clumsy, dumb, slow, foolish, crazy” in the face of a man she’s dangerously obsessed with.
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13. Did it Again (2009)
Keen to build on the success of 2005’s Oral Fixation, Vol 2, Shakira employed the services of Pharrell for follow-up album She Wolf. On the best of their four songs, Shakira rides Pharrell’s clattering, off-kilter beat and minimalist synth riff with aplomb, delivering the song’s fictional story about being the other woman with the passion of a scenery-chewing telenovela star.
12. Te Felicito (ft Rauw Alejandro) (2022)
Released as her longterm relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué was disintegrating, Te Felicito would eventually appear on 2024 breakup opus Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry). Regardless of the tabloidy context, it’s a brilliant song, melding elements of electropop and reggaeton to create a ludicrously catchy midtempo kiss-off.
11. Poem to a Horse (2001)
There’s always been something delightfully unhinged about Shakira’s songwriting. This Laundry Service album track tells of a deadbeat boyfriend addicted to “hydroponic pot” who can’t look up for long enough to see what he’s lost – speaking to him is like eating soup with a fork, or reading poetry to a horse. It’s all delivered with unwavering passion over an enthralling mix of soul and Nirvana-ish rock.
10. Inevitable (1998)
Having just turned 21, now managed by Emilio Estefan, who had helped stars such as his wife, Gloria Estefan, and Enrique Iglesias break the US, Shakira had a lot riding on her fourth album Dónde Están los Ladrones? Keen to evolve her sound while not alienating her young fanbase, on songs like the lilting Inevitable, with its melodic nods to Radiohead and Alanis Morissette, she showed her ability to transform heartbreak into stadium anthems.
9. Don’t Bother (2005)
Co-created alongside the Matrix, who made Avril Lavigne a superstar, Don’t Bother is a curious beast. Lyrically we’re in classic Shakira surrealist territory: a tall love rival is described as having gravity-defying looks while Shakira herself is a flea, or maybe a cat. Regardless, Don’t Bother is a lot of fun, with its Kelly Clarkson-esque slow-burn verses launching into a vast chorus built around the lyric, “don’t bother, I won’t die”.
8. Objection (Tango) (2001)
One of six singles to emerge from the 13m-selling English-language Laundry Service, the emotionally splenetic Objection (Tango) skips over musical reference points – No Doubt, the B-52s, surf-rock, new wave, tango – with the fleet-footed energy of a dance professional. Throughout Shakira holds it all together with her captivating vocal melodies.
7. Men in This Town (2009)
Co-written by Sam Endicott of mid-00s dance-rock also-rans the Bravery, Men in This Town takes a fairly implausible idea – that Shakira may struggle to find a man in LA – and blows it up into a sleek new wave banger. Name-checking Matt Damon, the song’s chest-thumping chorus builds to a swirling, psychedelic conclusion.
6. Shakira: Bzrp Music Session, Vol 53 (2023)
While the title may be unwieldy – it’s part of a series by Argentinian producer Bizarrap – its lyrical focus is pin-sharp. Taking aim at ex-boyfriend Piqué, Shakira also calls out his new girlfriend, his mother (who lived next door to him) and even the Spanish authorities who investigated Shakira for tax evasion (the investigation was later dropped). The celebrity gossip is even more delicious paired with the song’s percolating synthpop.
5. Underneath Your Clothes (2001)
One of Laundry Service’s two undeniable global smashes, the sombre Underneath Your Clothes displays Shakira’s ability to take popular mini-genres – in this case delicate, Jewel-esque singer-songwriter kook – and overload them with personality. Evoking 80s hit Eternal Flame by the Bangles, what could have been an overly sentimental ballad about finding the right person is instead given a unique framework about battles and territories conquered.
4. Beyoncé & Shakira – Beautiful Liar (2007)
“Bey-on-say, Bey-on-say” Pause. “Sha-ki-ra, Sha-ki-ra”. Not many songs can turn what is essentially an in-song reading of a school register into an all-time earworm, but the sensuous Beautiful Liar is a cavalcade of hooks. A duet added to the re-release of Beyoncé’s B’Day album, it manages to highlight the best of both its creators, with Beyoncé’s honeyed vocals oozing out to meet Shakira’s grittier tones over a marriage of flamenco and R&B that peaks in one of pop’s best bridges.
3. Hips Don’t Lie (ft Wyclef Jean) (2006)
While its creation may read as cynical major-label cash-in – originally released in 2004 by Wyclef Jean as Dance Like This for Dirty Dancing 2 – Hips Don’t Lie manages to channel a carefree summer holiday into three and half minutes. Latin-pop, reggaeton and salsa rub sweaty shoulders with hip-hop as Shakira sashays her way around her defining song.
2. Whenever, Wherever (2001)
If that smash hit is about her hips, then the fantastically odd, Andean music-inspired Whenever, Wherever is most famous for its focus on Shakira’s chest. Translated into English by Gloria Estefan, it’s likely the only US Top 10 single to celebrate smaller breasts and their inability to be confused with mountains. As with all Shakira’s best songs, the preternaturally catchy track is hypnotic and heartfelt.
1. She Wolf (2009)
With the charts then dominated by dance-pop thanks to the Black Eyed Peas and an incoming Lady Gaga, Shakira chose to lead her eighth album with a hybrid of hi-NRG pop, Italo disco and new wave, co-written by the Bravery’s Endicott, and including a lyric in which she compares her position in a relationship to an abused coffee machine in an office. She also manages to seamlessly drop “lycanthropy” into the first verse without batting an eyelid. While her peers tackled the tropes of pop songwriting with a straight bat, here Shakira turns boredom in a relationship into a camp horror story with her as its possessed, breathless lead. A true one-off from a true one-off.
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