Video Vanguard Award
Since Katy Perry’s Capitol Records debut in 2008 with One of the Boys, she has racked up a cumulative 115 billion streams alongside worldwide sales of over 70 million adjusted albums and 143 million tracks. The biggest-selling female artist in Capitol history, Katy is one of only twelve artists in history to have surpassed 100 million certified units with their solo single releases – and the first-ever Capitol Records recording artist to achieve the elite status of having 10 million RIAA-certified units for a single in 2015. She was also the first artist in RIAA history to earn three RIAA Diamond singles – for “Firework,” “Dark Horse” and “Roar.” Since then, she’s added a few more to her collection with “California Gurls” (feat. Snoop Dogg), “E.T”, and both “Teenage Dream” the SINGLE AND ALBUM going DIAMOND. Katy now has 6 singles and 1 album for a total of SEVEN Diamond-certified titles.
Now certified 3x Platinum, One of the Boys contained the hits “I Kissed A Girl” (6x Platinum) and “Hot N Cold” (8x Platinum). Katy’s second studio album, Diamond-certified Teenage Dream (2010), produced massive hits “Firework” and “California Gurls,” in addition to “E.T.” and “Teenage Dream” (single), which have each reached Diamond (10x Platinum).
The 5x Platinum PRISM followed in 2013. When the official videos for “Dark Horse” and the 15x Platinum, “Roar” each surpassed three billion views, Katy became the first female artist to reach this milestone.” ”Roar” has just crossed the four billion view mark, while “Dark Horse” recently crossed the one billion threshold on Spotify, where Katy boasts an impressive 57 million+ monthly listeners with over 30 million followers.
2017’s Witness contained the 2x Platinum “Chained to the Rhythm” (feat. Skip Marley) plus the Platinum hits “Bon Appétit” (feat. Migos) and “Swish Swish” (feat. Nicki Minaj). “Never Really Over,” off her latest album SMILE, is certified Platinum and was the biggest streaming launch of Katy’s musical career. The album also includes the Gold-certified singles “Daisies” and “Harleys in Hawaii.” SMILE has sold over 2.5 million adjusted albums, with over 4 billion combined streams to date.
Aside from being one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, Katy is an active advocate of many philanthropic causes. In 2013, Katy was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has used her powerful voice to ensure every child’s right to health, education, equality, and protection. Katy has also been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality, and has received numerous awards for her work, including the Trevor Project's Hero Award in 2012, the Human Rights Campaign's National Equality Award in 2017, amfAR’s Award of Courage in 2018, and Variety’s Power of Women distinction in 2021 for her work with her own foundation, the Firework Foundation, whose mission is to empower children from underserved communities by igniting their inner light through the arts.
Katy has similarly focused her entrepreneurial flair towards her eponymous shoe line, Katy Perry Collections, as well as for selective companies working to improve health and wellness. She sits on the Board of Bragg, makers of the celebrated Apple Cider Vinegar, has been an early backer of Impossible Foods, the plant-based meat producer, and is an active investor in Apeel Sciences, a company focused on plant-derived shelf-life extension technology for fresh produce that improves quality and reduces food waste, and Samsara, an enviro-tech company creating infinite recycling to end plastic pollution. Most recently, Katy co-founded De Soi, a line of sparkling ready-to-drink non-alcoholic apéritifs with natural adaptogens, in partnership with AMASS, maker of clean botanics.
Katy has just wrapped her critically acclaimed Las Vegas residency, PLAY. When “American Idol” returned to the air in 2018, Katy joined as a judge. She just completed her seventh, and final, consecutive season on the show.