Both Jennifer Lopez and Shakira launched their careers at roughly the same time, gravitating mainly to music. However, who is the more popular out of the two?

In terms of social media following, chart presence, net worth, and business success, Jennifer Lopez is the more popular of the two. The only area Shakira has Lopez beat is with overall album and single sales. 

Read on to learn more about these two performing powerhouses.

One And The Same

When you look at Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, you can draw many parallels. As they’ve advanced through their lives, both have followed similar paths. Although Jennifer Lopez is almost a decade older than Shakira, they’ve more or less taken the same route to get to where they are.

Jennifer Lopez was born to fairly poor Puerto Rican parents in the Bronx. Shakira on the other hand was born in Colombia, to an equally disadvantaged family. Neither experienced great wealth or extravagance when they were growing up and had humble beginnings.

When she was just five years old, Lopez began dancing and singing. Her parents immediately nurtured this behavior and enrolled her in classes. Before long, she was performing at school, engaging in gymnastics, and singing and dancing on a regular basis. 

Some years later, Shakira would be born. When she was four or five years old, she started writing fledgling poetry, gravitating eventually towards songs. At the age of just five, she began experimenting with dance and singing, following a very similar development path to Lopez. 

However, the similarities in their respective journeys don’t end there. When Shakira was around twelve years old, she gained the opportunity to audition for Sony Colombia. She’d been performing at local events around her home town of Barranquilla and was discovered by a producer. 

Her audition was a substantial success, and she was signed on for a massive deal. Sony wanted Shakira to produce three albums, which was a huge deal considering her young age. She would ultimately be just thirteen years old when her debut album was recorded and released. 

While Lopez initially gravitated toward acting, she started her career at an equally young age. She would release her first album in 1999, some years behind the younger Shakira. Another similarity between the two is the languages they spoke. Both Shakira and Lopez would record music in both Spanish and English. 

Popularity Contest

The two women developed their careers almost in tandem, despite the age difference. While Lopez was starring in movies, Shakira was releasing albums, both to great reception. Once Jennifer Lopez did start releasing albums, she did so in earnest. 

By 2020, Lopez had released eight full studio albums, while Shakira had produced eleven. However, you must bear in mind that Shakira’s musical career has lasted almost eight years longer than Lopez’. 

When it comes to raw sales, Shakira tops the chart over Jennifer Lopez. As of 2020, she’d sold around seventy-five million records, establishing her as one of the best selling artists in the world. Conversely, Lopez fell some way short, only picking up around thirty million sales by the same time. 

Jennifer Lopez does of course boast a considerable filmography, having starred in around forty movies by 2020. She dominates Shakira in this respect, who has only really starred in one movie – Zootopia. Otherwise, she’s been the feature of countless Shakira-focused productions. 

You can see a video of Shakira lending her voice for the animated production on YouTube below.

Lopez also boasts the most number-one hits. According to Billboard, she’s had four number ones in the US, and ten Top 10 hits. Shakira, on the other hand, has only had one number one in the US in her whole career. Although, she has seen a huge wave of success in the Spanish charts, topping them on numerous occasions. 

Monetarily, Jennifer Lopez definitely wins the prize. As of 2020, she staked a claim to a fortune worth around $400 million. Shakira, while by no means worse off, only boasted around a $300 million net worth. Lopez likely has a higher fortune as a result of her many fashion and fragrance lines. 

Social media offers another huge win for Jennifer Lopez. As of 2020, she had around 130 million followers on Instagram. Shakira was lagging a considerable distance behind, with around 70 million followers. 

It’s a difficult and toughly-fought battle, but Jennifer Lopez wins it by a considerable amount. 

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