NEW YORK — Cardi B has only released one major single this year — the hit “WAP" — but it's enough for Billboard to name her Woman of the Year.
Billboard announced the
Jennifer Lopez will receive the Icon Award at the event and Dolly Parton will earn the Powerhouse Award. Other honorees include pop star Dua Lipa (Powerhouse Award), R&B sister duo Chloe x Halle (Rising Star Award) and singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez (Impact Award). Brianna Agyemang and Jamila Thomas of Atlantic Records — who led #TheShowMustBePaused campaign in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery earlier this year — will receive the Executive of the Year Award.
Outside of “WAP" — which co-stars Megan Thee Stallion and spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart — this year Cardi B appeared on K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's “Bet You Wanna" and Brazilian singer Anitta's “Me Gusta”; she jumped on the remix for the Latin trap track “La Bebe" with Anuel AA, Black Jonas Point, Secreto and Liro Shaq; and her rant about the coronavirus was remixed by iMarkkeyz and became a social media smash, even charting on Billboard's rap and R&B digital songs sales chart.
Mesfin Fekadu, The Associated Press