Katy Perry Main Image Blue - H 2012
Joe PuglieseKaty Perry will take home the Woman of the Year Award at the 2012 Billboard Women in Music event on Friday, Nov. 30, in New York City, capping off a year that’s seen the pop star break chart records, release a 3D feature film and bring her candy-colored tour all over the world.
PHOTOS: Katy Perry: The Pop Star’s Past to Present in Pictures
After launching into the mainstream with the saucy single “I Kissed a Girl” and hit album One of the Boys, Perry set fire to the charts with 2010’s “Teenage Dream.” The record-setting album notched five Hot 100 No. 1s, a first for an album by afemale artist, and has sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. “Dream” spent over 100 weeks in the Billboard 200.
Perry’s impressive numbers also include a record nine No. 1s on the Mainstream Top 40, a record seven on the Adult Top 40, 10 on the Dance Club Songs and an overall seven atop the Hot 100. She’s sold 48 million songs in the U.S. alone, according to SoundScan, with tracks such as “Firework” and “California Gurls” among the top 30 downloads ever.
Her chart dominance extended to her ambitious “California Dreams” tour, which sold out 124 arenas while helping fund charity efforts for the Children’s Health Fund, Generosity Water, the Humane Society and the Red Cross. The tour was documented earlier this year in Katy Perry: Part of Me, the 3-D concert film that Perry both starred in and produced. She debuted the film in Los Angeles with a specialperformance for Billboard and Pepsi’s Summer Beats series this summer, shutting down the Hollywood and Highland intersection for hundreds of fans.
Perry debuted her latest hit single, “Wide Awake,” during a high flying performance on the Billboard Music Awards on May 20 in Las Vegas. The song went on to reach No. 2 on the Hot 100.
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“Katy Perry broke into the industry not even five years ago, and has already accomplished more than most artists can hope for in anentire career,” Bill Werde, Billboard’s editorial director, says. “We are thrilled to celebrate these incredible achievements and her amazing past 12 months by honoring her with the Billboard Woman of the Year Award. With what seems like a never-ending supply of record-breaking, chart-topping hits, coupled with her unique and fresh style, Katy Perry is hands-down one of the most exciting and inspiring artists in the industry today.”
Billboard’s annual Women in Music Event, now in its seventh year, celebrates the most powerful and talented women in the music business, coinciding with the publication of Billboard’s Women in Music Power Playerslist. This year’s event will be taking place on Friday, Nov. 30 at Capitale in New York City. Previous honorees include Taylor Swift, Fergie and Beyoncé.
