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Colombian singer Karol G is the Latin American answer to Taylor Swift. 

While Swift has dominated the headlines and concert ticket sales over recent years, it is actually the 33-year-old Latin American pop star whose videos are the most watched online.

That's according to Vevo, which is the main provider of official music videos to YouTube. Karol G's were the most streamed around the world for each of the past four years, 2021 to 2024.

This year, Karol G's Vevo videos were watched 3.5 billion times, with fellow Colombian Shakira in second place on 1.96 billion, and Swift on 1.95 billion.

So who is Karol G, and what has fuelled the success that also saw her sell out Madrid's Bernabéu Stadium over four nights back in July, plus stadiums across the US last year?

Born in the Colombian city of Medellín in 1991 her full name is Carolina Giraldo Navarro. She wanted to be a singer from an early age, and when she was 14 she appeared on the Colombian version of the talent show X Factor in 2005.

Success did not immediately follow, and instead by 2014 she had moved to the US to live with her aunt in New York City to learn English and do menial work. She almost gave up pursuing a career in music at this time, but her father convinced her that she could make it.

While in the US Karol G also attended a music business conference in Boston, which she says was very helpful in helping her understand how the industry worked.

She got her breakthrough hit single in 2017, the song Ahora Me Llama, which was a collaboration with Puerto Rican male artist Bad Bunny. Her first album Unstoppable then followed.

Since then the hits have just kept on coming, and her 2023 album, Mañana Será Bonito, was the first entirely Spanish-language release by a female artist to top the US album chart.

Colombian singer Karol G is the Latin American answer to Taylor Swift. 

While Swift has dominated the headlines and concert ticket sales over recent years, it is actually the 33-year-old Latin American pop star whose videos are the most watched online.

That's according to Vevo, which is the main provider of official music videos to YouTube. Karol G's were the most streamed around the world for each of the past four years, 2021 to 2024.

This year, Karol G's Vevo videos were watched 3.5 billion times, with fellow Colombian Shakira in second place on 1.96 billion, and Swift on 1.95 billion.

So who is Karol G, and what has fuelled the success that also saw her sell out Madrid's Bernabéu Stadium over four nights back in July, plus stadiums across the US last year?

Born in the Colombian city of Medellín in 1991 her full name is Carolina Giraldo Navarro. She wanted to be a singer from an early age, and when she was 14 she appeared on the Colombian version of the talent show X Factor in 2005.

Success did not immediately follow, and instead by 2014 she had moved to the US to live with her aunt in New York City to learn English and do menial work. She almost gave up pursuing a career in music at this time, but her father convinced her that she could make it.

While in the US Karol G also attended a music business conference in Boston, which she says was very helpful in helping her understand how the industry worked.

She got her breakthrough hit single in 2017, the song Ahora Me Llama, which was a collaboration with Puerto Rican male artist Bad Bunny. Her first album Unstoppable then followed.

Since then the hits have just kept on coming, and her 2023 album, Mañana Será Bonito, was the first entirely Spanish-language release by a female artist to top the US album chart.