Selena Gomez is earning some major recognition at this year’s Billboard Latin Women in Music event. Billboard and Telemundo announced this week that Gomez will receive the 2025 Women of the Year award, joining previous honorees like Shakira and Karol G. The award honors “a female artist who has demonstrated exceptional success, leadership and cultural influence in the music industry and beyond.” Gomez will receive the award when the two-hour special airs on May 24 from Miami on Telemundo.
Gomez has had an incredibly busy, and incredibly successful, past year. Last May, she shared the award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival with her co-stars in Emilia Pérez. Gomez went on to receive nominations for her acting at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, and presented at the Academy Awards. She also received both Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her performance in the series Only Murders In The Building. This past March, Gomez and her fiancé Benny Blanco released the joint album I Said I Love You First, which reached number 2 on the Billboard 200.
Through all of her varied endeavors, Gomez has remained outspoken about her heritage and what it means to her. She released her first Spanish-language EP Revelación in 2021, and has frequently collaborated with other Latin artists like Ozuna, Cardi B, and Rauw Alejandro. The artist has also remained forthright about the issues that affect Latin communities in the United States. “I’m always very vocal about my background,” Gomez told Dazed Digital in 2020 while speaking of her grandparents’ experience immigrating from Mexico to the United States. “I have such an appreciation for my last name. I’ve rereleased a lot of music in Spanish as well, and that’s something that’s gonna happen a bit more. So there’s a lot more I would love to do because I don’t take it lightly, I’m very honored.”
