The organizers of the Billboard ceremony announced that Colombian pop star Shakira will be honored with the title of Woman of the Year at the inaugural “Latin Women in Music” ceremony.
The two-hour concert, also known as Mujeres Latinas in la Música, is set to celebrate Latina female artists, CEOs, and creatives who are proactively working for positive change, inclusion, and gender equality in the music industry,” according to Billboard. It will be broadcast on May 7.
The accomplished singer has been in the music industry since her teens and has 11 studio albums and several Latin Grammys. Her decades-long career has opened doors for Latin artists to become international artists.
Notably, Shakira sold more than 95 million records worldwide, according to Billboard and Telemundo, making her the top-selling female Latin artist of all time.
She has been named Billboard’s Top Female Latin Artist of the Decade twice, in 2000 and 2010, and has received three Grammys, 12 Latin Grammys, seven Billboard Music Awards, and 39 Billboard Latin Music Awards, according to Billboard and Telemundo.
Shakira’s 2022 single “Monotonía”, one of the biggest Spanish-language songs of the year, became the most streamed Latin track in 24 hours on Spotify. The song debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Shakira the first solo woman to reach the Top 10 with a song recorded in Spanish.
Ronald Day, Telemundo’s president of entertainment and content strategy, said in a statement: Shakira has been pivotal in shaping the vibrant and diverse landscape of Latin music and music in general throughout her career.
He added: Her passion, talent, and creativity have broken barriers and empowered generations to embrace our identity through music, and we are incredibly proud to recognize her as Women of the Year in the industry.
