Our Album of The Month for November is ‘Laundry Service’, the fifth studio album and first English language album from Colombian singer Shakira. The album was released 20 years ago this week on the 12th November 2001.

Here’s a couple of facts about one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century:

– Six singles were released from the album with lead single ‘Whenever, Wherever’ becoming an international success, reaching number one in Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The follow-up single ‘Underneath Your Clothes’ also topped the charts in several countries across the world.

– ‘Laundry Service’ is a certified multi-platinum album in the United Kingdom and globally was the seventh best-selling album in 2002, selling around 13 million copies.

– When recording the album, Shakira didn’t know how to speak English and only spoke her native language of Spanish. Singer Gloria Estefan and Shakira’s manager Emilio Estefan encouraged her to record the album in English as they believed she had the potential to become popular overseas as well.

– The singer recently celebrated 20 years of ‘Laundry Service’ and called the release of the album her ‘golden era’.