Britney Spears receives Icon Award at Radio Disney Music Awards

May 1 (UPI) -- The 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards has honored Britney Spears with its first Icon Award.

"What a pleasant surprise, my goodness!" Spears said onstage Saturday as she accepted the award.

"This is such an honor," she continued. "I want to thank Radio Disney so much for giving me their first-ever Icon Award. What can I say? This is such an honor! Your support throughout my career has meant so much to me."

The award presentation was preceded by a tribute concert dedicated to Spears and some of her biggest hits that featured Kelsea Ballerini performing "Oops!... I Did It Again," Hailee Steinfeld singing "Circus," Sofia Carson covering "...Baby One More Time" and sister Jamie Lynn Spears performing "Till The World Ends."

Disney said the Icon Award was created to recognize "a distinguished artist whose career transcends popular culture and whose music is loved by generations of Radio Disney fans."

Other big winners of the night included Ariana Grande winning Best Female Artist, Niall Horan winning Best Male Artist, Camila Cabello wining Best Musical Collaboration for "Bad Things" alongside Machine Gun Kelly, 2016 America's Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal winning Best New Artist and Nick Jonas, who was honored with the Special Hero Award for promoting awareness of Type 1 diabetes.

Headlining performances included voice actress from Disney's Moana Auli'i Cravalho performing from the film "How Far I'll Go" alongside Jordan Fisher and Alessia Cara, Noah Cyrus, who performed a new arrangement of her debut single "Make Me (Cry)," and Julia Michaels, who performed her single "Issues."