Shakira’s ‘Hips’ sets air-time record

No, her hips don’t lie. They don’t have to.

Colombian pop star Shakira now holds the record for the most-played song in pop music history. Her new single, “Hips Don’t Lie,” was played 9,657 times on American radio for the week ending June 4.

That breaks Gwen Stefani’s former record of 9,582 plays in a week for “Hollaback Girl” last year.

Thanks to the radio play and a surge of digital downloads, “Hips Don’t Lie” also jumped to the top of Billboard’s new Hot 100 singles chart. It was No. 9 last week.

“Hips,” which fuses Shakira’s Latin influence with Wyclef Jean’s island-tinged hip-hop and a touch of ‘80s cheese-metal synthesizers, is an unlikely candidate for such dominance.

Tucked amid the “Spanglish” lyrics – which, considering the current red-hot debate over immigration, could be seen as a drawback in some parts of the country – is a nugget of protest as Shakira and Jean sing: “Why the CIA wanna watch us? Colombians and Haitians? I ain’t guilty.”

“Hips” would have done better on the Billboard chart earlier if Epic Records hadn’t held back its release as a legal download in order to drive up sales of Shakira’s “Oral Fixation, Vol. 2” album.

However, after weeks of protests from fans, the song is now available as a download single and holds down the No. 1 spot on iTunes.