Billboard announced the honour Wednesday and the Grammy-winning rapper will be celebrated at the music brand's 15th Annual Women in Music event, which will stream live on December 10 at 8 p.m. EDT.
'Thank you, Billboard!' Cardi B wrote in an Instagram post reacting to the honour. 'Now I can bring up the stats but that will take me all day b**** broke records!
She continued: 'Thank you BARDIGANG without y’all encouraging while the world was against me and criticizing every move I wouldn’t have gotten here every day and use my voice for a change.'
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.
Cardi B took to Instagram Stories Wednesday defending herself against critics who said that it was a surprise to see her win since she only had released one single, WAP.
'For you cry babies like, "What? She only got one song." Yeah, I got that song, b****,' she said. 'You know the one that sold the most, the one that streamed the most ... the one that had your grandma popping her p**** on TikTok ... I'm just that b****. Eat it up with a spoon.'
Cardi B also 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.
Jennifer Lopez will receive the Icon Award at the event and Dolly Parton will earn the Hitmaker 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 Ahmad Arbery earlier this year - will receive the Executive of the Year Award.
