Aretha Franklin to receive Icon prize at Billboard Awards

Aretha Franklin will be honored with the Icon Award at this year's (14) Billboard Women in Music Awards.

The soul legend will be the very first recipient of the prize, which recognizes a female artist whose music has helped shape the industry.

The announcement comes weeks after Franklin became the first woman to score 100 hits on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart since 1958 thanks to her cover of Adele's Rolling in the Deep.

Other previously announced honorees at the Billboard Women in Music Awards are Taylor Swift, who has been named the Woman of the Year, Ariana Grande, who will receive the Rising Star trophy and Idina Menzel, who will be handed the Breakthrough Artist of the Year at a gala luncheon, which will take place in New York City on 12 December (14).