STAGE TUBE: MTV Names Katy Perry 'Artist of the Year'

Katy Perry has been named MTV's first-ever 'Artist of the Year'. The singer was chosen for chart-topping hits that have empowered her fans.  As MTV's Artist of the Year, Katy found success by  being herself. She sang about aliens, her foggy memories of house parties, lost love, true love, being yourself and everything in between which made it easy for fans to connect to her. 

Riding high off the success of 2010's Teenage Dream, Perry didn't rest on her laurels. Instead, she set the bar even higher by hitting the road on the California Dreams Tour, where night after night, decked out in candy-colored clothes, she belted out her greatest hits and empowered her fans with tracks like "Firework." That anthem, originally released late last year, became so ubiquitous this year that it finds itself at #10 on MTV's Best Songs of 2011 list.

Throughout the year she made music videos that were cinematic, such as "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" and "The One That Got Away".

In August, she took home the VMA for Video of the Year for "Firework." Perry told the audience at the show, "I feel like I am doing something right when I sing that song. So thanks to everyone who helped to create it." That same night, she also nabbed the Moonman for Best Collaboration for her Kanye West-assisted track, "E.T."

Perry is one of the new millennium's biggest pop stars, and she matched some of pop's greatest icons on the charts this year. She tied Billboard records previously held by Michael Jackson and later one held by Janet Jackson and George Michael by having so many hit singles off one album.

Perry also appeared in a hosting stint on "SNL" and made her big-screen debut voicing the iconic Smurfette in "The Smurfs." For all these accomplishments, Perry has been chosen as 'Artist of the Year'.

To view Perry's acceptance speech for MTV's 'Artist of the Year', click below!