Music

The UAE seems to attract more than its fair share of celebrities, which is no surprise given the country's glorious beaches, hot temperatures and stunning range of facilities.Dubai is a playground for the rich and famous and you do not have to look too far to find a recognisable face.The emirate is clearly a very attractive holiday destination, but it also appeals to top-class performers who have finally realised that the Middle East is an extremely lucrative market.Not only do musical artists receive huge sums to hold shows in the city, but they also make massive amounts of money through merchandising in this part of the world.But who do the UAE people like to see the most?Social media analytical platform SocialBakers has compiled a list of the ten most popular celebrities in the country based on Facebook statistics, Emirates 24/7 reports.The company scrutinised traffic from 3.4 million UAE-based Facebook accounts to see which stars have the most popular fan pages and the results were somewhat surprising.Colombian singing sensation Shakira was the most revered performer, with her page attracting more than 290,000 fans from the UAE.RnB singer Akon was next on the list, having amassed 260,000 “likes” from his fans in the Gulf.The rest of the top five was made up by Michael Jackson, Indian music composer and Oscar winner AR Rahman and Enrique Iglesias.Global megastar Justin Bieber – who recently took to the stage in Dubai – only managed sixth position in the rankings, which was perhaps the biggest shock.Although the Canadian singer's actions caused controversy during his recent stay in the UAE, his immense worldwide popularity cannot be questioned.Taylor Swift also made the top ten, while Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghosal was included in the list too.The final two places went to Usher (with 126,247 UAE fans) and Lil Wayne, who had 124,177 Facebook likes in this part of the Middle East. Continue reading →