How Shakira became Facebook's most popular celebrity

Shakira has over 100 million fans on Facebook. Photo / AP

Shakira has become the world's most liked celebrity on Facebook, setting the record with more than 100 million fans.

She comes ahead of Rihanna and Eminem, who have a respective 91.9 million and 89 million likes.

To put Shakira's Facebook figures into perspective, someone who works for the social media channel - who clearly had an enviably quiet few days in the office - has helpfully put together a few facts to add context to the figure.

If the singer's 100,000 fans joined hands they would wrap around the world four times. They would fill 1359 Maracana stadiums and if, in the unlikely event all these people decided to howl like a wolf in unison at exactly the same time, they would be louder than 58,666,666 planes taking off.

If they each saw fit to each wiggle their hips altogether for 30 minutes, they would power 205 big television screens for an hour, or 10 houses for a year.

Most of Shakira's fans are women (57 per cent), most of whom are single (58 per cent) and three out of 10 are called Maria. One in 10 of her male following are named Jose. Most of her fans come from Mexico City, Cairo and Istanbul.

But why, you may wonder? How has the woman famed for lyrics such as "Lucky my breasts are small and humble/ so you don't confuse them with mountains" amassed such a wide fan base?

She has a large following in South America and was very active during the World Cup, performing her tournament hit, "La La La", at the closing ceremony.

Basically, she used Facebook a lot to document her personal goings-on during one of this year's biggest sporting event in a region that she was very popular already.

Her social media team post in different languages, including English, Spanish, German, French and Russian, so that her international following constantly feel involved.

The singer also ensures that her brand page doesn't come across as solely a marketing ploy (although the links to iTunes and her merchandise can't hurt), sharing personal pictures of herself with her family - her most shared post is an image of her footballer husband, Gerard Pique, kissing her then newborn son, Milan.

"100 million fans on Facebook!" wrote Shakira in a hand-written note shared on Facebook on 18 July. "Thank you so much for joining me and propelling me on this incredible journey. I couldn't do it without you all. Much love, Shak."

- Independent