Dick Clark Award goes to Swift

Singer Taylor Swift has been named as the first recipient of Dick Clark Award For Excellence at 2014 American Music Awards (AMAs).

The 24-year-old, who is enjoying a great year with her latest album 1989 selling more than a million copies in a week, will receive the new honour at the award ceremony.

In a statement released on AMAs' website, the organisation revealed that Swift has been chosen as the recipient of the award because of her album sales.

Swift is one of the first artists to create three albums all of which sold more than a million copies within their first week on the market.

The inaugural award is named after the founder of the AMAs. Clark acted as the host of American Bandstand for thirty years from 1957 and became a hugely influential figure in the music industry.

The AMAs producers, in their statement, said the new award is "given to an artist who achieves a ground-breaking feat or creates a landmark work. It is to be bestowed upon someone whose spirit and excellence capture the visionary passion that Dick Clark himself incorporated into everything he did".

--IANS