3 Big Reasons Why Britney Spears Deserves the First-Ever Radio Disney Music Icon Award

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Britney Spears is going back to her roots.

The pop star will take home the first-ever Icon Award at the show's Radio Disney Music Awards April 29th.

The inaugural honor "recognizes a distinguished artist whose career transcends popular culture and whose music is loved by generations of Radio Disney fans," according to a statement from Radio Disney (per Entertainment Tonight). "Having just celebrated 20 years of Radio Disney in 2016, we are excited to introduce the RDMA 'Icon' Award as special recognition of an artist whose music has been loved and adored by generations of Radio Disney fans," Phil Guerini, Music Strategy VP of Disney Channels Worldwide, said in a statement Wednesday. "We are proud to celebrate Britney as the first recipient for this award acknowledging her chart-topping career on Radio Disney since 1998," he continued.

There's no denying Spears has reached icon status during her career in music and entertainment. Take a peek at the three reasons she deserves the award.

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  1. Disney launched her into superstardom: Spears kicked off her career as a member of the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club in the early 1990s with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Although she took a brief break from the biz when the show was canceled in 1995, the songstress returned with a bang, dropping her debut studio album Baby One More Time in 1999 when she was only 16 years old. It was pop princess stardom from there.

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  1. She has record-breaking album sales and her music has garnered her legions of die-hard fans: Throughout the years, the music star has sold nearly 150 million records worldwide since the release of her first single "...Baby One More Time" in 1998. Six of her albums also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and she has racked up eight Grammy nominations. Her radio plays and albums aside, the mom of two's Las Vegas residency also broke records with ticket sales of more than $100 million.
  1. She has continued to be a Disney darling: As Guerini mentioned, Spears has been topping charts on Radio Disney nearly since its inception. She's had 15 singles played on the radio network.

The Radio Disney Music Awards will take place at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Fans not on hand for the show can watch it the following day—April 30—at 7 p.m. ET/PT across multiple Disney-branded platforms.

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