Lady Gaga's Oscar dress was made by Azzedine Alaia. (Photo : REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni )
Lady Gaga's six Grammy awards and her other big contributions to the music industry are the reasons why Billboard chose the controversial and unconventional singer as its Woman of the Year awardee.
The awarding ceremony will be held on Dec. 11 at the Cipriani Midtown in New York at Billboard's 10th yearly Women in Music event, reports E! News. It airs on Dec. 18 at Lifetime.
A Billboard press statement says that choice of Lady Gaga was because of the singer's "industry leadership, artistry, philanthropy, innovative contribution to music and inspiration to millions," quotes USA Today.
She responded with gratitude for the award with a tweet, saying, "I am so so so so grateful My gosh good morning!"
Her "Till It Happens to You," music video, which serves as an introduction to a documentary on campus rape, has gone viral with almost 14 million hits one week after it was posted on YouTube.
After watching the video, Kuro Neko, a rape victim at age 7, shared that she learned to forgive her cousin who raped her. Shider Paper said he cried after watching the video and points out that males are also sexual assault victims.
Holly Karnish said the video brought back "a flood of memories." She describes Lady Gaga's song as very powerful and thanked the singer "for putting some faces to the problem" as well as helping to find a solution.
iCoNIC Gaming points out that Lady Gaga was raped when she was 19, and the song tells fellow sexual assault victims "You are not alone."
Other celebrities whom Billboard had given the same award are Taylor Swift, Pink, Katy Perry and Beyonce.
Lady Gaga has also crossed from singing to acting as the 29-year-old debuts on the upcoming season of "American Horror Story: Hotel."
